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THE PERFECT HORSE: 

HO W TO KNO W HIM. I HO W TO TRAIN HIM. 

HO W TO BREED HIM. \ HO W TO SHOE HIM. 

HO W TO DRIVE HIM. 

BY WILLIAM H. H. MURRAY. 

M 

WITH 

AN INTRODUCTION BY REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER ; 

AND A TREATISE ON 

AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE, 

By Hon. GEORGE B, LORING. 



CONTAINING ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BEST TROTTING STOCK-HORSES 

IN THE UNITED STATES, DONE FROM LIFE, WITH THEIR 

PEDIGREES, RECORDS, AND FULL DESCRIPTIONS. 



" Hast thou fciven the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? . . . The 
glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength ; he gocth 
on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted ; neither turneth he back 
from the sword. . . . He svvalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage. . . . He saith among 
the trumpets. Ha, ha ! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and 
the shouting." — Job xxxix. 19-25. 







BOSTON : ^ 
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, 

(Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co.) ' 

1873. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S73, 

By JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



Boston : 
Rand, Avery, & Co., Electrotypers and Printers. 



TO 

Ulysses S. Grant, 

President of the Republic, 

AND LOVER OF THE HORSE, 

I RESPECTFULLY DEDICATE 

CTIjis Folumc. 

THE AUTHOR. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



I PUEPOSE in this volume to treat of tlie most noble and 
useful of domestic animals, — the horse. I desire to put 
into a small compass and cheap form the result of many- 
years of reading and observation, that every farmer's boy in 
New England may have in his possession a book which shall 
contain within its covers enough of instruction to qualify him 
to breed, train and drive, buy and sell, horses intelligentlj^and 
profitably. This is my hope. I purpose, also, to lay before 
him the true principles of animal propagation, following 
wliich the breeding of fast and valuable horses shall be in 
no sense the result of chance or "good luck," as the phrase 
is, but of causes clearly understood and arranged from the 
start. I shall show him how to raise a vicious or amiable 
colt, a slow or fast one ; what to discard and what to include 
in liis selection of dam and she ; and how, when the perfect 
animal is produced, to educate him properly, and bring him 
forward in intelligence and docihty until he is able to con- 
tribute most directly and fully to his owner's profit or 
pleasure. ^Vhile I shall advance and strive to sustain my 
own views, I shall, in all cases, give my reasons therefor. I 
lay no claim to originality. I have no hobby to advance, or 



Vi PREFACE. 

pet theory to advertise to the public. My success, if success 
attend my efforts, will be due to the patience with which I 
have studied the subject, and the entire absence of passion 
and prejudice in writing out the vicAVS thus obtained. I 
confess my indebtedness to many books and many authors. 
The cumbersome volume of veterinary practice, the quaint 
medioeval treatise, and the sensational pamphlet of the profes- 
sional "horse-tamer" who perambulates the country to-day, 
astonishing the uninitiated with the tricks of his trained 
ponies, have alike supplied me with material for reflection. 
I wish to give in a condensed form the aggregated wisdom 
of all, to the end that whoever may purchase this work shall 
have the sum and substance of what is known concerning 
the horse. 

I do not deceive myself so far as to suppose that I have 
wholly succeeded ; for the subject is a vast and intricate one, 
and man's performance is seldom equal to his desire. Still 
it may be that enough has been done to vindicate the motive, 
and serve the public. If this should be the verdict of my 
patrons, I shall rest content. If any should express surprise 
that one in my profession should devote his leisure to such a 
purpose, I have this to say, That to me it has been a labor 
of love in the first place for the noble animal of which I 
write, and whose existence and services have ever been and 
are to-day closely connected with the commercial, social, and 
religious development of the country ; and, in the second 
place, I acknowledge the presence in my heart of a desire to 
associate myself in every honorable way with that class of 
my countrymen, to which, by birth, early education, and pres- 
ent aspiration, I belong, — the agricultural class. Compelled 
by the obligation of public life to pass the larger part of my 
time in cities, my mind and heart continually revert to 



PEEPACE. "Vii 

the country, where, in the cultivation of the products of the 
earth, and the propagation and training of the domestic ani- 
mals, man finds, as I judge, his most honorable and happy- 
employment. I have no sympathy with that professional 
exclusiveness which forbids to the intellect the powers and 
pleasure of general knowledge and universal studentship ; 
nor do I ever wish to see the day, when, restrained by a false 
sense of professional dignity, I shall refuse to impart needed 
information to any one, of whatever walk and pursuit of 
life, who may be assisted and bettered thereby. With this 
purpose, and prompted by this impulse, I now send this vol- 
ume forth, and bespeak for it the careful perusal of those 
who admire and are interested in the noble animal of which 
it treats. 

W. H. H. MUKRAY. 
Boston, 1873. 



AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 



In sending this volume forth to the public, the preparation 
of which has been a matter of profound interest and pro- 
longed labor to me, I wish to acknowledge the courtesy of, 
and return my thanks to, the scores of men, who, scattered 
over the country, have given me their encouragement and 
assistance in my work. Especially would I acknowledge 
the courtesy of the President of the Nation in accepting so 
graciously, and with such manifest interest, the dedication of 
the work ; and the great services done me personally by Rev. 
Henry Ward Beecher in contributing the Introduction, and 
by Hon. George B. Loring in the preparation of his most 
interesting and valuable article. 

It is not often that one can see such a grouping of names 
as this ; and it does of itself suggest how wide-spread and 
profound is the interest in and affection for the animal of 
which they write. To these gentlemen, and to all who liave 
aided me by favor and counsel in my effort, I regard myself 
personally a debtor. 

W. H. H. MURRAY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



My deah Mr. Murray, — 

"What do you expect ? I am not competent to discuss the 
mysteries of a training-farm, nor the political economy of 
the horse. 

If, now, you needed a word on the joys of riding on 
winged horses, or the experience of long journeys over 
prairies and through Western forests on horseback, I could 
supply such" material. I also could give you a chapter on 
the reverse side of the art of selecting and buying horses, 
so that one should be able, five times out of six, to be 
cheated, and pay a large price for an unsound horse. I 
could teach one how to buy dear, and sell cheap. But 
these are things aside, — the mere chaff and wastage of the 
subject. 

I reall}^ hope that you have made a standard book : first, 
because you are a clergyman, and it behooves all clergymen 
to do well whatever they do at all ; and, second, because 
many men think horse-culture a theme unbecoming a moral 
teacher. Not long ago, many people thought that good folks 
ought not to own good horses ; that a fast horse was a sign of 
a fast man ; and that only publicans and sinners had a right 



X INTRODUCTION. 

to nags that could trot inside of 2.40 ; while the righteous 
were doomed to amble through life on dull, fat, family-horses, 
fit only for a plough or a funeral. 

It is part of the same foolish prejudice which marvels 
how a preacher could write a book on horses. " Would 
St. Paul," say they, " pause to write on the horse ? " 
But would Paul have written upon astronomy ? or upon 
the history of the Jews ? or upon agriculture ? or on com- 
mon schools ? Would he have written poetry, or commu- 
nications for a newspaper, or magazine-articles, or Latin 
grammars ? If he had lived in our time, he certainly would, 
if he felt moved thereto, and perceived that thereby he 
might contribute, directly or indirectly, to the great inter- 
ests of political economy as included in Christian civilization. 
Who finds fault with clergymen for contributing to the 
welfare of society through any of the great channels of 
influence ? 

From time out of mind, husbandry has been deemed a 
proper pursuit for clergymen. But what topic in husbandry 
is more important, and better worthy of dignified treatment, 
than the history and culture of that noble animal, the horse ? 
Society, owes to the horse a debt of gratitude a thousand 
times greater than it does to thousands of men who abuse 
him. He has ministered to progress ; has made social inter- 
course possible where otherwise it would have been slow 
and occasional, or altogether impossible. He has virtually 
extended the strength of man, augmented his speed, doubled 
his time, decreased his burdens, and, becoming his slave, has 
released him from drudgery, and made him free. For love's 
sake, for the sake of social life, for eminent moral reasons, 
the horse deserves to be bred, trained, and cared for with 
scrupulous care ; and, if a minister can teach men how to do 



INTKODUCTION, XI 

it, it is not abandoning his profession, but pursuing a remote 
department of it, which has too long ah^eady been left to 
men who look upon the horse as an instrument chiefly of 
gambling gains, or of mere physical pleasure. 



HENRY WARD BEE CHER. 



Tvvix-MouNTAiN KousE, White Mountains, 
Aug. 27, 1873. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE. 

Points of a Horse, or the Marks by which a Good Horse is known . 1 

CHAPTER II. 
The PRiNCirLEs of Breeding. — Reasons why Breeders have not been 

financially Successful 72 

CHAPTER III. 

Breeding. — How to Succeed SO 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Sire .89 

CHAPTER V. 
The Dam 139 

CHAPTER VI. 
How TO train a Colt 153 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Horse's Foot, and how to Shoe it 226 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Morgan Horse : iiis Relation to Breeding 292 

AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE 343 

Pedigrees of Noted Horses 429 

How TO LAY out A IMlLE TrACK 455 

Gallery of Celebrated Horses 457 

INDEX 473 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 



" The White Mai:e 

Fearnaught 

Live Oak . 

Taggart's Abdallah 

Thomas Jefferson 

Carenaught 

Rysdyk 

Daniel Lambert 

Fearnaught, Jun. 

Harvard . 

Robert Bonner 

Manchester 

Morgan Abdallah 

Lola and Foal 



Frontispiece. 
. 8 
. 32 
. 64 
. 96 
. 128 
. ICO 
. 192 
. 224 
. 256 
. 288 
. 304 
. 352 
. 416 



THE PEEFECT HOUSE. 



BY W. H. H. MURRAY. 



THE PERFECT HORSE. 



CHAPTER I. 



POINTS OF A HORSE, OR THE MARKS BY WHICH A 
GOOD HORSE IS KNOWN. 

To a young man starting out in the business of 
breeding, or to any person about to purciiase a horse, 
nothing can be of greater value than the knowledge of 
those points or marks which characterize a perfect 
animal. Not that all of these desirable qualities of 
bone, muscle, and nervous organization, can be found 
once in a thousand times combined in any single animal ; 
for the perfect form in any order of life is rarely if ever 
seen. But, nevertheless, a standard is needed by which 
the buyer may measure the several animals inspected, 
in order to ascertain where to place them in the column 
that represents aggregate excellence, else his blunders 
will be many and mortifying. The question arises, 
therefore, — and it is of the most practical significance- to 
the young breeder and general purchaser, — Is there any 
standard or representative horse, the marks of which. 



2 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

being known, would enable one to buy with intelligence 
and wisdom? How can one who lias had little if any 
experience with horses go to the mart or field, and in- 
vest his money in such a way as- to escape the ridicule 
of his more experienced companions and neighbors, and 
the censure of his after-judgment ? I reply, that such a 
standard can be formed, — a standard* which, when it 
has become known and familiar to the mind, enables it 
to discriminate with accuracy touching the excellences 
or deficiencies of every animal inspected, and qualifies a 
man to fix surely and at once the money-value of the 
animal he wishes to purchase. In other words, there 
are certain elements of nature, and certain peculiarities 
of form, and a certain style of action, which the perfect, 
the ideal horse invariably possesses, and which, accord- 
ing to the degree with which they are possessed by an 
animal, rank it in the column of value and pice. Nor 
are these marks, on the one hand, so numerous as to be 
beyond the capacity of the poorest memory to commit 
them ; nor, on the other, are they so latent, that, when 
once pointed out, they cannot be perceived by even the 
most casual glance. Nature does not disguise herself 
from those that seek to know her, nor so mask her excel- 
lences that they cannot be perceived and admired even 
by the careless eye. I propose, therefore, to point out 
to the reader those marks which characterize the perfect 
or ideal horse ; and I do so for the sole purpose that 
every boy who reads these pages may have with him the 
knowledge which forbids blundering and financial loss 



HOW TO KNOW HiiVI. 6 

ill the selection of animals from which to breed, or for 
general or special use. Nothing is more preposterous 
than the idea which seems to be current, that there is 
something mysterious in. the art of buying and selling 
horses wisely, which has been hidden from the average 
farmer or gentleman, and revealed only to jockeys, 
grooms, and stable-boys. It is about time for the pub- 
lic to realize that the organization of the horse is too 
high, and his physical anatomy too intricate, for the 
ignorant and drunken to understand ; and that the gen- 
tleman's companion, as I hold the horse to be, can best" 
be understood and managed by gentlemen. I will now 
call your attention to certain elements and characteris- 
tics of the horse which the perfect animal must have. 

The first, and to my mind the most essential, point to 
be observed touching the horse, is his 

TEMPERAMENT. 

I ask you to distinguish temperament and temper. 
The temper is an accident, the result of education or 
treatment ; in rare instances, of birth : but the tempera- 
ment is a law or mode of being affecting and modifying 
the physical structure and the nervous forces. The 
temper can be modified or changed : the vicious can be 
made amiable ; and the amiable, vicious. Not so with 
the temperament: that is fixed at birth, and remains im- 
mutable, dominating over the entire organization. Diet, 
training, treatment in sickness, — these, and much beside, 
are suggested to the thoughtful mind by the tempera- 



4 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

ment of the horse. There are four principles and dis- 
tinct temperaments seen in horses, — the nervous^ bilious^ 
sanguine^ and lymphatic. They are by nature distinct, 
dissimilar, and not seldom antagonistic. Still they rare- 
ly are found pure, separate. In most cases they are 
found to be blended, mingled, co-existent. Still, gener- 
ally, one is found preponderating over all others ; and 
according to the degree of this preponderance of the 
one over the rest is the constitution of the animal being 
inspected determined. Let us suppose that we are 
examining a horse with a nervous temperament. Such a 
horse will have a large, full brain, well-developed spinal 
column, and nerves ' of acute sensitiveness. From such 
an organization come quickness of movement, nervous 
excitability, and great delicacy of feeling. Such a horse 
will have rapidity of motion, a quick, lightning-like 
gather, a restless ear, and a bright, animated counte- 
nance. He will be apt to take the hills at a jump, and 
enter and leave his stable with a spring. He will suffer 
untold agonies on the application of the iron curry-comb 
in the careless groom's hand, and will need watching 
and a taut rein on the road to prevent his shying. 
This, in brief, is the picture of a horse with a 7iervous 
temperament The Vermont Black Hawk types this 
class. 

The next in order is the hilious temperament. This 
temperamental organization is associated with a large 
muscular system. The horse with a hilious temperament 
will have large bones and large muscles. The masses 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 6 

of fibrous fiesli about the quarters and shoulders, 
the shank and fore-arm, will be well brought out, and 
well packed in. To the hand they will feel hard and 
firm. Such an animal impresses you with the appear- 
ance of strength : you can see written all over him in 
capital letters the word " endurance." He will stand any 
amount of work. In strength he is an equine Hercules. 
Nothing but bad treatment and the passage of many 
years can break such a horse down, or wear him out. 
Such an animal was the Old Morrill horse; and like 
him, in a large measure, is the whole Morrill family, in- 
cluding his most famous descendant Fearnaught. They 
are all horses of great muscular vigor and power. 

Consider now, in the third place, the sanguine tempera- 
ment. 

Sanguine is from the Latin, — sanguis^ sanguinis.^ 
meaning blood. This temperament, therefore, as its 
name implies, is closely related in its origin to the blood- 
system, and suggests a large development of heart, lungs, 
and blood-vessels. A horse with such a temperament will 
prove long-winded. He will come down the home-stretch 
with wide-open and capable nostril. He will not pant and 
labor in aspiration at the close of the heat. Whatever, 
in the way of speed, he is able to do, he will do with 
case. Consider, also, how closely the blood and arte- 
rial system are connected with the nourishment and sup- 
port of the body. Remember that it is by the blood 
alone that the nutritious elements of food are dissemi- 
nated through the entire system, and the needed suste- 



THE PERFECT HORSE. 



nance ' carried to every part. You observe, therefore, 
how vital a part this order of temperament plays in the 
economy of the system, and how prominent a place it 
should hold among those characteristics and qualities 
which the purchaser and breeder of horses must observe 
in order to reach by an accurate analysis a true and 
proper conclusion touching the value of the animal 
under consideration. The horse with such a tempera- 
ment will not only have excellent lungs, but he will be 
generally healthy : what he eats will actually nourish 
him ; and day by day, by exercise and food, will he 
renew his symmetrical life. 

The last of the four kinds of temperament is the lym- 
phatic. A horse with this temperamental organization is 
to be shunned. He will be large in the abdomen, lazy, 
and inclined to lay on useless fat. He will be sluggish, 
slow-moving, and shambling in his gait ; a stumbler, and 
kicker-up of dust ; a heavy, fleshy animal, — more of a 
pig than a horse. 

I have now enumerated the four kinds of tempera- 
mental organization peculiar to horses as to men, and 
endeavored to so describe and illustrate them that my 
youngest reader may know them at a glance. They 
teach us an instructive lesson ; none the less so because 
generally unnoted by those who have attempted, by 
voice and printed page, to teach us concerning the 
structure and constitution of the horse. The lesson is 
this, — that by no study of the outward form can one 
judge correctly of this noble animal. You must push 



HOW TO KNOW HDI. 7 

your analysis within, you must question tlie nervous 
forces of the organization, you must knock at the por- 
tals of, and actually gain admission to, the brain of the 
animal, before you can judge of his value to you, or the 
place he holds in the column that represents compara- 
tive or absolute excellence. You observe, also, that, to 
the breeder, this question of temperament is of vital sig- 
nificance. The problem with him is one of judicious 
mingling of the three essential temperaments in order 
to produce the most desirable results. The nervous 
temperament alone will not answer. Rapidity of move- 
ment is not enough. He must breed into his colts mus- 
cular power ; and this is represented by the bilious tem- 
perament. 

But of what avail are quickness of motion and mus- 
cular strength, unless to these are joined capable lung- 
power, elasticity of the heart-structure, and that efficient 
arterial and venous development, by the steady and 
healthy action of which the system can alone be minis- 
tered unto, the wasted fibre removed, and new nerve 
and muscular substance daily supplied. The true 
point, therefore, for the breeder to consider, is this : 
Granted such or such a temperament to the mare, 
what stallion is there whose temperamental organization 
is of such a character, that the two, meeting and min- 
gling together in the foal, may produce in this third or- 
ganization the harmonious union of the greatest number, 
and in the greatest degree, of the needed and essential 
elements? for the relative proportion in which they 



8 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

exist will have a marked effect upon tlie life of the ani- 
mal raised, and his fitness for the especial service for 
which, in the mind and ambition of the breeder, he is 
to excel. And while these three temperaments — the 
nervous, bilious, and sanguine — should all exist, and 
meet in happy union, in the same animal, yet in what 
proportion they should be mingled in order to produce 
this happy union of speed, endurance, lung-power, and 
healthful ness, is to the breeder a matter of momentous 
importance ; for on this, beyond all else, as we think, 
and trust our reasoning proves, failure or success 
depends. 

Did the contemplated space of this work permit, I 
could show that this matter of temperamental organiza- 
tion of the horse potentially affects the entire animal, — 
even every minute point of the physical structure, and 
each separate part and function of the body. If the 
temperament be an active, lively one, then will the bones 
be fine in their texture, ivory-like, and lasting. The 
muscles, also, will be influenced, and become wiry, com- 
pact, and elastic as spiral wire. If the temperament, 
on the other hand, be sluggish, heavy, lymphatic, the 
bones will be spongy and porous in their structure, the 
muscles flaccid and coarse, and the nervous organization 
low, dull, and inoperant. I am well aware that size, all 
else being equal, is a true gauge of power ; but let it 
never be forgotten by the breeder and purchaser of the 
horse, that " all else " is not equal. Size alone is no 
measure of power ; for all can see, even with the most 




I 



HOW TO KNOW HEM. 9 

casual examination of the subject, that the slightest 
alteration in temperament makes a corresponding altera- 
tion in the power and efficiency of every individual 
part. A horse does not draw by virtue of his weight, 
nor in proportion to his size. The public scales and the 
measuring-tape can never assure us how much a horse 
can draw, or how many miles he can pull a wagon and 
its owner in a day. Muscular action and nerve-force 
must be considered ; and these are both closely allied 
to, and dependent on, the temperament of the animal. 
The well-bred horse, inch for inch, and pound for 
pound, is far stronger than the dray-horse ; and old 
Justin Morgan, the founder of the most wonderful 
family of horses (all things being considered) this or 
any country ever saw, could draw logs that horses of 
twelve and thirteen hundred pounds could not even 
start, albeit he weighed only about nine hundred 
pounds, and stood barely fourteen and a half hands 
high. It is the amount of vital force, that at the end of 
a stick of timber, or a weary day's journey on a heavy 
road, tells the story. 

Having ascertained the temperament of a horse (that 
is, the inner characteristics of his nature and being), 
let us now examine the outward conformation, and those 
physical marks which meet the eye of the buyer. What 
is that /orm, and what should be the shape and relation, 
one with another, of the several parts of the body, in 
order to secure in the highest degree the things most to 
be desired in a horse ? Let us begin, then, to pass in 



10 ' THE PERFECT HOESB. 

review those points or cJiaracteristic marlcs of a horse 
which assist the judgment in forming a correct estimate 
of his real worth. And, first of all, let us carefully 
consider 

THE HEAD. 

The head is the glory of the horse, as it is of man. 
Through it the vital forces look out upon the scene of 
their exercise and their triumph. The passions and 
emotions use it as their interpreter ; and every mood and 
feeling run to it for advertisement. If a man's soul, as 
it has been claimed, can be judged by his face, a horse 
may be known by his head. Granted a certain confor- 
mation, and you will have viciousness ; granted another, 
and you have amiability. Next to the human face, the 
countenance of a horse is most expressive of the quali- 
ties within, and the most beautiful form of animal life. 
How grave, how cheerful, how amiable, how vicious, 
how playful, how positive and determined, the counte- 
nance of the horse can become ! What brightness and 
vivacity, what majesty and courage, what energy and 
terrible power, the look and countenance of the horse 
are capable of expressing ! No wonder that it has 
always been a favorite subject for the brush of the 
artist and the chisel of the sculptor, and deemed worthy 
by the inspired writers to adorn the poetry of the 
Bible. 

The first thing for you to consider, reader, when 
examining a horse in judgment, is his head. First of 
all, get a good front view : observe the distance be- 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 11 

tween the ears, the length and curvature of the same, 
the space lying between them and the eyes, the eyes 
themselves, the cheek-bones, the muzzle, the nostrils and 
lips. Then step to one side, and scan the head in pro- 
file. Observe the way it is joined to the neck ; its bal- 
ance and pose, the conformation of the jowls, the nose- 
line, and the make-up of the lower jaw and lip. Do all 
this before you have even given a glance at the body ; 
for by the study of the s7^ffj;e of the head and the look 
of the face, beyond any thing else, will you be able to 
decide touching the temperament of the animal, which, 
as I have shown, dominates for good or ill over the 
entire organization. 

If you wish to decide whether a man is a kind 
husband, a good father and courteous neighbor, honest 
and industrious, cheerful and happy, a delight to all his 
friends, and a useful member of society, look at his 
head, and not at his body. It is the head and face that 
reveal to us the character and relation of those nervous 
and vital forces which really represent the man, and not 
his legs or chest, or bone and muscular structure. So it 
is with the horse. He, too, is an animal of high organi- 
zation, endowed with a large degree of intelligence, 
capable of forming strong and enduring attachments, 
subject to moods and tempers, and distinguished by the 
quickness and strength of his impulses. The right or 
wrong adjustment of these forces represents his value, 
and gauges the degree of his worth or worthlessness. 
The bones and muscles are mere servants of these high 



12 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

and efficient forces, and used by them at will as a 
slave is directed by his master to serve or kill his guest. 
Never can a man be a good judge of a horse so long as 
he looks upon him as an animal of low organization, 
composed merely of bones, muscles, fibre, and flesh, and 
represented by these. Such a view of swine is correct ; 
but such a view of horses is most erroneous : and yet 
many buyers who deem themselves in every way com- 
petent to select good horses, and plume themselves on 
their ability to "buy close," never look farther into the 
organization of a horse than to examine his legs, feet, 
shoulders, quarters, and muscles, — the mere material 
and loiuer part of the animal ; while the qualities which 
really in flict represent the liorse^ and decide his com- 
parative value, are taken for granted. 

I select the following description of the head of a 
perfect horse from a little volume written by James C. L. 
Carson, M.D., of Coleraine, Ireland, published in 1859 
(a little book, by the way, from which many compilers 
of books on the horse have copied about all the sense 
there was in their works, without giving him the credit 
of it), because I would like to bring this book into 
notice, and because the description harmonizes, point by 
point, with my own ideas of a perfect head. He 
says, — 

" The head of every horse should be as small as 
would be in keeping with the rest of his body. A 
large, coarse head is a defect, in every person's eye ; and 
it has no advantages to counterbalance its deformity. 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 13 

The muzzle should be fine, and of a moderate length; 
the mouth invariably deep for receiving and retaining 
the bit ; and the lips rather thin, and firmly compressed. 
A fine, tight lip is a pretty sure indication of an active 
temperament, and consequently affords a measure of the 
energy and durability of the animal. Horses with 
short, thick, flabby lips, lying wide apart, are prover- 
bial for sluggishness. The nostrils should be large, so 
as to be capable, Avhen open, of allowing the air to 
have free access to the lungs. In conformity with the 
uniform condition of the Creator's works, it will be 
found that there is a direct relation between the de- 
velopment of the nostrils and the capacity of the lungs 
for air. Hence arises' the necessity of observing the 
size of the nostrils. Capacious lungs would be of no 
use if the orifice which connects them with the exter- 
nal atmosphere were so contracted that they could not 
get properly filled. The race-horse must have very 
wide and dilatable nostrils to admit a large volume of 
air, with the utmost freedom and greatest speed, into 
his widely and rapidly distended lungs ; but the horse 
of slow work can take more time in his breathing, and 
consequently does not require such a very large nostril 
as the racer, hunter, or steeple-chaser. Care must 
always be taken, recollect, not to confound a naturally 
well-developed nostril with one which looks large in 
consequence of having been kept in a state of perma- 
nent distention by disease of the lungs or air-passages. 
The muzzle ought to be fine a good way up ; and then 



14 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

the parts should enlarge suddenly, in order to give 
plenty of breadth to the under-jaw, as well as thickness 
from side to side. This is a point of great beauty, as it 
gives breadth to the jaw-blade, and breadth from eye 
to eye, whilst the fineness of the head generally is 
maintained. A head that is narrow between the eyes, 
and narrow on the side of the jaw, is painfully disagree- 
able to the eye of every judge. The space between the 
two blades of the under-jaw ought to be so broad and 
so deep as to freely admit the lower edge of the neck 
when the chin is reined in towards the counter ; but it 
should not be. wider than this, as it would then appear 
coarse. If there is sufficient room in this locality, the 
horse can be reined up to the proper pitch without 
stopping up his windpipe. The face^ on a side-view, 
should be dipped in the centre between the ej^es and 
the nose. This is generally the case in the Arabian and 
Engligh blood-horse ; and it is a much more beautiful 
formation than either the straight or convex profile. 
However ornamentalit may be to the human face, a 
Roman nose certainly does not improve the appearance 
of the horse. The line of beauty in the one case is 
very different from the other. A dish-faced horse is 
admired on all hands ; but a pug-nosed man, with a pro- 
jecting, upturned chin, will have some difficulty in car- 
rying off the prize for beauty. The face must be very 
broad between the eyes ; but it should taper a little as it 
approaches the ears. If the breadth is carried all the 
way upwards, the top of the head will be too wide, the 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 15 

ears ill set, and tlie horse probably sulky. Now, in re- 
spect to the head, it also should be examined in detail, 
for in it are distinct organs having distinct uses, and 
each contributing its share to the proper understanding 
of the animal to which they belong, and to which they 
serve. But, of all these organs, perhaps the eye is 
the most expressive and characteristic of them all. 
Through it, in all the different phases of animation and 
repose, we most directly behold the mind of the horse, 
and the character of that disposition, the various moods 
of which are revealed through the eye. And this will 
not appear strange, that, both by its location and office- 
work, it is in close and direct communication with the 
brain. It might well be called the window, through 
which we can look, and behold the activities going on 
within, and which would be forever hidden from us 
were this friendly window darkened. The eye of the 
horse should be kindly, bold, full of suggestions of la- 
tent heat and fervor, but spread over all a mild and 
gentle look. I do not favor myself an eye ringed with 
white, for this suggests timidity or mischief; although I 
have known subjects in which this eye was seen, and the 
animal was at the same time entirely free from fault. 
Still, in the main, I hold that this judgment is correct, 
uttered by one wise in horse-craft, that ' a horse which 
is always looking back so far as to expose the white of 
the eye is generally on the alert for mischief, and is not 
to be trusted with his heels.' " 

As to the size of the eye, I suppose that eyes are 



16 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

nearly of the same measurement in all horses ; but the 
apparent size differs widely in different cases, and this 
difference springs from two causes as we understand it : 
first, whether the eye is set well forward or back- 
ward as to its position in the socket ; and, in the second 
place, to the thinness and openness of the eyelids, or the 
reverse. The eye should set well out, yet not so far as 
to be exposed to outward injury. I think too little at- 
tention is paid to the color of the eye, because from 
this, as we think, can be judged the character of the 
temper. A little observation on the part of the reader 
will substantiate this, or prove us to be in error. 
As to the 

EARS, 

I would observe that they should be thin, not over 
lengthy, free from long hairs, curved a little inward at 
the point, and full of vein-tracery. They should be 
rather close together at the base, strongly set on, quick 
and lively in movement, and covered with fine, short 
hair. You will never find an indolent, sluggish, heavy- 
movins: horse blessed with such ears. 

I think also, but to a less degree, the color of the hair 
should be considered. I do not think that color is a 
mere matter of taste, as some assert. We know that 
the color of a man's skin does assist one in forming a 
correct judgment as to his temperament. 

We know that the florid complexion denotes the san- 
guine temperament ; that with the darker skin we as- 
sociate the bilious temperament; and the chalky hue 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. - 17 

points to the lymphatic. Why should this not hold 
true in relation to the horse ? We believe it does. 
Other things being equal, I should not select a sorrel 
horse, nor a white-haired horse, nor a jet-black. I do not 
regard these as liarchj colors. I should prefer rather 
the rich chestnut, the deep blood-bay, or a handsome 
brown. The former colors suggest scrofulous constitu- 
tions and imperfect blood-conditions ; while the latter 
point to fineness of bone-texture, and perfection of the 
venous system. 

The portion of the head lying between the eyes and 
the ears is worthy of the closest possible attention ; for 
it is the section occupied by the brain itself, — th^ seat 
of all intelligence, docility, and motive-power. This 
section of the head can scarcely be too full. I would 
never breed a mare to a stallion deficient at this point 
of his structure. I want no colts from a sire with a flat 
forehead ; for such a horse is a savage, sulky, detestable 
brute. To start with, he will have no memory : he will 
forget to-morrow what you taught him to-day. Even 
if he wished to remember it, he could not ; for he is 
incapable. To a bad memory must be added a bad 
disposition. He is sour, cross and crabbed, tricky and 
malignant. His cunning is not playful, but mean ; and 
his tricks are tricks of cruelty. No one ever saw a 
horse, with such formation of front, tractable and trusty. 
But if, on the other hand, you meet a horse with a bold, 
prominent forehead, a noble fulness at that point where 
the brain is lodged, you will find him to be of a docile 



18 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

and silky disposition. You can teach him any thing ; 
and, when once taught, he will rarely if ever forget. 
Indeed, his great intelligence suggests to his owner a 
caution : Never teach him to do any thing that you do 
not desire him to do always and at all times; for what- 
ever he has once acquired you can only with great 
difficulty eradicate. I do not wish to be understood as 
saying that every horse with a fine brain development 
is gentle ; for he may have been trained under a system 
so essentially vicious, that no natural amiability could 
withstand its savage friction : but this I do wish to be 
understood as saying, — that every horse with this full 
and fine brain development is by nature courageous, 
docile, and loving ; and that, if they ever become other- 
wise, it is owing to the vicious management of those 
who have them in charge. 

THE NECK 

is the next portion of the horse to be considered. Nor 
do I think that sufficient attention is paid by would-be 
horsemen to it. It is evident that much of the beauty 
of the horse is associated with the neck. If it is too 
thick, or too straight, or too much arched and drawn 
back, the entire appearance of the animal is changed 
and marred. It is also to the shape of the neck that 
we look for traces and proof of the animal's breeding. 
According to its length, moreover, is he easy to the 
hand in driving, and safe in saddle-work. In the first 
place, the head and neck must have a certain adjust- 



HOW TO e:now hevi. 19 

ment ; and this must be of such a character as to cause 
the nose to project forward, and out of the Hue of the 
perpendicular: still the projection must not be too 
positive, else the horse will be what is called "a star- 
gazer." Such an animal not only has a vicious appear- 
ance, but is difficult to manage, and is actually unsafe ; 
because the bit, which should keep a safe purchase on 
the lower jaw, will be drawn up into the angles of his 
mouth, so that the reins have little or no control over 
his course, and he can go how and whither he pleases. 

Concerning the length and thickness of the neck I 
have this to observe; viz., the same neck is not desii'a-- 
ble in every horse, but should vary somewhat according 
to the service to which it is to be put. For speed the 
neck cannot be too light, provided that it allow sufB.- 
cient room for the passage of wind and food. All 
weight carried here is dead-weight ; that is, weight that 
does not help propel the horse, and should, consequent- 
ly, be bred away. The model neck, in this respect, 
is found in the thorough-bred English racer ; and to this 
pattern the American breeder should strive to bring the 
neck of the trotting-horse. The Morrill neck, the Ham- 
bletonian neck, the French or Canadian neck, and, for 
the most part, the average neck of the American trot- 
ting stallion, is by far too gross and heavy either for 
beauty or for speed. But observe at this point, that, 
while the large neck is disadvantageous for a horse kept 
for speed, in the case of the harness-horse and carter, 
thickness of neck at the base, where it enters the shoul- 



20 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

der, is both desirable, and actually essential. This cau- 
tion should always be kept in mind, that both length 
and lightness must not be pushed in breeding to an ex- 
treme, for fear that, in so doing, constitutional weakness 
would be the result. 

The centre of the neck should be decidedly thicker 
than either the upper or nether edge, and grow in 
tliickness as it approaches the shoulder ; for this thick- 
ness at the centre of the neck is suggestive of muscle. 
At the other end (viz., at the jowls) the neck can hardly 
be too thin. In formation along the upper edge, the 
neck should rise from the withers in a free and noble 
curvature, which, connected with the desirable length, 
will insure beauty of appearance when being ridden or 
driven, and a mouth easy to the hand. Nor is this 
length and curvature of the neck a mere matter of 
beauty, and easy subjection to the driver's will; but more 
yet is it desirable, because this formation is alone con- 
sistent with that true balancing of the body on the legs 
by which gracefulness of motion, and freedom from 
stumbling, are secured. 

We now come, in our analysis and description of a 
perfect horse, to what, perhaps, stands second only in 
importance to the brain; viz., 

THE CHEST. 

The reason why this portion of the horse is so impor- 
tant, and the accurate understanding of it so desirable, to 
the breeder and purchaser, arises from several causes. 



HOW TO KNOW HTM. 21 

And, first, because it is the home of the heart. The 
heart, please remember, is the centre of the entire blood- 
system of the body. By the blood which it circulates 
alone can the structure be nourished and sustained in 
vigor and health day by day. By it, also, alone can the 
effete substance which is constantly accumulating in the 
system, as the result of every motion the animal makes, 
be collected, and discharged from the system. It is to 
the heart, therefore, you see, that we are indebted for 
whatever needed element is added to the system, and 
whatever unneeded and harmful element is removed 
therefrom. Heart-health means muscular health, bone 
health, universal health. Heart-disease means weakness 
of the muscles, unreliable bone substance, and a more or 
less impairment of the entire system. Whatever con- 
cerns the heart, therefore, and whatever affects it, direct- 
ly or indirectly, for good or ill, is worthy of the closest 
attention. Especially the chest, — in which the heart is 
lodged, by which it is protected, and which either 
cramps it, or allows it the needed liberty of action, — 
as it is properly or improperly formed, challenges our 
inspection. 

In the second place, the reason why the chest of the 
horse is worthy of the horseman's most careful study 
is because it is the cavity in which Nature has located 
the lungs. I shall, in another portion of this work, 
treat more fully of the use and condition of the lungs. 
But this much I will observe at this point : the blood 
which is circulated by the heart can be vitalized and 



X 



22 THE PERFECT HOESE. 



purified only by coming in contact, in passing through 
the lungs, with atmospheric air. When quiet, the blood 
in an animal's body moves through the circulating chan- 
nels slowly, and respiration is performed easily : but in 
exertion the circulation is quickened ; the blood is pumped 
in and shot out of the heart with great rapidity ; the 
breathing becomes labored, and a fearful pressure is put 
upon the lung substance ; the multitudinous air-cells are 
dilated, and exposed to a strain which nothing but the 
strongest possible texture can withstand. In addition to 
this, the reader must bear in mind that the blood that is 
brought back to the heart after having gone the rounds 
of the system is in an impure condition, and can only be 
purified by the oxygen taken with every breath into the 
lungs ; so that the lungs and heart work, as it were, in 
unison, and are mutually dependent one upon the other. 
Every ounce of blood circulated by the heart must re- 
ceive a certain amount of air from the air-cells of, the 
lungs ; and, as the rapidity of the circulation is gauged 
by the degree of exertion put forth, it follows that the 
capacity of the heart and lungs decides, in a great meas- 
ure, the amount of exertion which the horse can put forth. 
To illustrate : The faster he goes, the greater the number 
of heart-beats and the amount of air required ; so that 
the capacity of the heart and lungs really decides (the 
proper temperament and muscular strength being grant- 
ed) the speed of the horse. Hence the necessity of 
paying special attention to the shape and size of the 
chest, in which the heart and lungs are placed. 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 23 

I am not writing a minute anatomical description of 
the cliest ; and I need only say that it is bounded on the 
front by the neck, on either side by the shoulder-blades 
and the ribs, underneath by the breast-bone, above by 
the spine, and in the rear by the diaphragm, which acts 
as a division between it and the intestines. Draw a line 
from the hindermost point of your saddle until it touches 
the back-side of the girths, near the breast-bone, and 
you see with sufficient accuracy the position of the dia- 
phragm. It is a large sheet of muscular tissue, reaching 
from side to side in such a way as to completely divide 
the power separating it into two great cavities. It is 
pliable in texture, and, when moved backward or for- 
ward, lessens or enlarges either of the cavities between 
which it is drawn. The front one of these two cavities 
is occupied almost entirely by the heart and lungs. 
Here they dwell almost alone in the home which Nature 
has provided for them, and which they monopolize. The 
heart is small in size, and alters little, whether in repose 
or action, sickness or health. Not so with the lungs: 
they expand and shrink with every breath. In their 
substance they are highly elastic, and capable of being 
enormously distended ; and each distention is followed 
with a commensurate collapse. To accommodate this 
mighty expansion, which results from every aspiration 
made by a horse when in violent action. Nature has 
made a wonderful provision. When the aspiration begins, 
the arch made by the ribs is elevated, and the diaphragm 
is drawn back, in order that the cavity between them 



24 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

may be enlarged to accommodate the expansion of the 
lungs. When the ribs are lifted, and the diaphragm 
drawn back, the lungs swell out, being inflated, and fill 
the enlarged chest ; and the air rushing into the air-cells 
of the lungs, and then coming in contact with the impure 
blood waiting to receive it, purifies it, and is then dis- 
charged through the windpipe, from the nostrils. The 
lungs are thus reduced to their former size, and the 
chest shrinks to its normal proportion. This is the 
process of breathing ; and upon its proper performance 
depend the health and usefulness of the horse. 

An old horseman has well expressed it thus : " Wind," 
says he, "is the grand secret of a fast horse. Good' 
lungs will cover a multitude of faults ; whilst, on the 
other hand, perfection of shape and form are useless 
when the wind is out." 

The chest, therefore, in all cases, should be large and 

capacious. In shape it may vary somewhat, according 

to the service to which the horse is to be put. If lie is 

< 
kept for slow work and heavy drawing, the chest may be 

nearly circular in form, because this shape is the one for 

strength and bulk, to receive and bear up against the 

pressure of the collar ; while, at the same time, sufficient 

room is secured for that expansion of the lungs caused 

by slow and regular work. But, if the chest is circular, 

let it be at the same time deep, or else the lungs may be 

cramped. A horse with a shallow chest is worthless for 

any purpose. The rule, then, is this : For a draft-horse, 

a circular but deep chest ; but as you pass through the 



HOW TO KNOW HEM. 25 

different degrees of speed, up to the racer and trot- 
ter, tlie cliest must increase in depth compared to its 
roundness, until, for the highest rate of speed, you must 
have a chest as deep as a greyhound, and, at the same 
time, not lacking in breadth. Every breeder should 
keep this rule in mind when selecting his brood-mares 
and stallion; for he may be sure that shallow-chested 
parents never beget deep-chested colts. In order to 
illustrate the faultiness of the circular chest, an inge- 
nious writer has put it thus : — 

" Take, for example," he says, " a piece of pasteboard, 
and form it into a cylinder about six inches in length, 
and two inches in diameter; leaving it open at both 
ends, so that it can be compressed equally from end to 
end. Place one end on a table, and compress two of 
its sides until the cavity assumes a perfectly oval or 
elliptical form, and then fill it accurately with fine shot. 
When it is nicely filled and levelled on the top, re- 
move the pressure from the sides, so that the pasteboard 
may again form a perfect cylinder ; and it will be found 
that the shot is not nearly sufficient to fill the cavity. 
Now, as the quantity of pasteboard remains exactly the 
same during the entire experiment, it is quite plain the 
change of capacity is owing solely to the change of 
form. 

" Let us suppose, then, that a horse has a perfectly 
circular chest ; and it will follow, as a necessary conse- 
quence, that the elevation of the ribs on the side, in 
place of increasing its capacity, will actually lessen it, 



26 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

by bringing it more or less into the elliptical form. In 
this case the cavity of the chest would be larger when 
the breathing would be suspended than at any other 
time, because its original shape was such as not to ad- 
mit of an increase of size by any change of form. The 
farther it would be changed from the cylinder, the 
smaller it would become. But if, in the first instance, 
the chest were a great deal deeper than broad, the ele- 
vation of the ribs on th^ side would just serve to bring 
it into the circular shape, which is the most capacious 
of all. Hence it must be evident that depth of chest 
is indispensable in all cases. 

"As the lungs of the horse occupy a much. larger 
space when he is in active exercise than when he is at 
rest, we are justified in concluding that he requires to 
have the power of increasing the size of his chest in 
proportion as he is called upon to increase his speed. 
Contrary to the popular opinion, the chest must, to a 
certain extent, be flattened on the sides, in order that 
it may be capable of being changed from the elliptical 
into the circular form. The horse for very slow work 
may have his chest approaching the circle, because the 
trifling elevation of rib which is required by his quiet 
mode of breathing will only be sufiicient to complete 
the circular shape. Whilst he may do with this kind 
of chest, it cannot, however, be considered advanta- 
geous, as a greater power of wind might often be of 
decided service to him, and could never be injurious. 
The depth of the chest, when compared with its width, 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 27 

must invariably increase in direct proportion to the in- 
crease of speed and distance required of the animal. 
In the steeple-chaser or the flat-racer it should be of 
enormous depth, in order that the elevation of the ribs 
may assist in forming a capacious circle, for the purpose 
of accommodating the rapidly and frequently distended 
lungs during the trying period of the race. In such 
cases a round chest would be of no use, as the wind 
would be completely pumped .out of the horse before 
he had gone half the requisite distance." — Carson on 
the Horse. 

The best form the chest can possibly take in a horse 
used for speed is the following : It should be wide 
above, moderately so below (near the breast - bone), 
and slightly flattened, but very deep, along the sides. 
Such a shape to the chest will enable him to trot his 
mile in 2.20, and be free from pain at the close of the 
decisive heat. 

I might pursue these remarks much farther ; for the 
subject is profoundly interesting to the student of the 
horse, and I have by no means exhausted it : but my 
space is limited ; and perhaps enough has been said to 
give the reader, and young purchaser and breeder, the 
main, essential points most worthy of attention. But, 
before I pass to another section, I caution all would-be 
breeders of fast and enduring horses, Avhether for the 
racing or trotting course, as also all on the lookout for 
a fast horse for their private use, to remember that that 
portion of the horse where Nature has placed the heart 



28 THE PERFECT HOKSE. 

and lungs sliould receive at their hands the closest 
inspection: for a merely circular chest, or a narrow, 
pinched, and shallow chest, does not give heart and lung 
room enouc^h ; and without this there can be no his'h 
prolonged rate of speed. 

After the head, neck, and chest have been duly in- 
spected, and their excellences or defects remarked, the 
buyer should turn his attention to the 

BONES, 

in order to ascertain whether they supply the animal 
with the needed upholding and supporting power, not 
merely when at rest or in easy action, but when, in his 
high flights of speed, he delivers his strokes with the 
energy of a locomotive. For when a horse, weighmg, 
perhaps, eleven hundred pounds, comes rushing down 
the course, the shock to his bone structure, as represent- 
ed by his legs, is something beyond our power to realize ; 
and how such a small column of bone as the canon-bone, 
for instance, can sustain the blow, I have never been 
able to comprehend. 

The first point for the student of the horse to bear in 
mind is, that the size of a bone does not give the true 
measure of its strength, but rather the size and texture 
both. The leg-bone of a thorough-bred horse, as all 
know, is much smaller in size than the leg-bone of the 
cart-horse ; but, at the same time, it is many times 
stronger. The reason of this is, that, in the one case, 
the bone is coarse and porous in its texture; while in 



HOW TO KNOW HDI. 29 

the otlier it is fine, dense, and compact. A section 
from tlie canon-bone of a low-bred cart-horse, after 
being exposed to the action of the atmosphere, is seen to 
be, when held up between the eye and the sun, spongy, 
porous, and full of holes : while a section from the 
canon-bone of a thorough-bred horse is solid and hard 
as ivory ; so much so, indeed, that it Avill take a polish 
like a piano-key. This flict reveals the whole story, and 
prevents all future blundering. Of course, a certain 
size is requisite ; but . all above the absolutely needed 
amount is only unnecessary weight, which, without giv- 
ing any assistance to the animal, he is compelled to 
carry along. Now, when you reflect that the differ- 
ence of even ten pounds in the weight of two drivers 
will lose the heavier driver's horse the race, albeit he is 
in every respect equal to his rival, you will readily per- 
ceive how important, when we come to the matter of 
speed, this point of bone-weight is : for it is as bad to 
weight the horse in the limbs and neck as it is in the 
sulky ; nay, worse ; for it exhausts the horse more to 
carry ten pounds of lead, we will say, fastened to his 
legs, or tied around his neck, than to draw it on wheels. 
I advocate, therefore, the breeding of colts with as shm 
neck as is consistent with constitutional endurance, and 
with as small limbs as comports with strength ; for this 
reason, if for none other, — because every ounce of un- 
necessary bone substance and flesh about the neck is so 
much dead-weight for the horse to carry. But beyond 
this is the question of beauty, which, none will deny, 



30 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

points directly to fine-bred limbs, neck, and head. I 
urge all my readers to remember this also, — that no one 
can be a good judge of the horse, no matter what his 
pretensions are, unless he is perfectly familiar with the 
size, length, and proper position of every bone in the 
skeleton: for they are the props and levers of the 
entire structure; and on their shape, length, position, 
and texture, the capacity of the animal for any allotted 
service depends. I will now ask joiiv attention to the 

SHOULDER. 

There is no one type of shoulder, either as to its bone 
and muscular structure or its length and position, 
which may be called the perfect shoulder ; because, be- 
yond almost any other part of the horse, the shoulder 
is to be considered in relation to the service required of 
him. Hence it becomes necessary for one to make him- 
self acquainted with the several kinds of shoulder; 
each of which, in their way, is the perfect shoulder for 
the work to which it is adapted. This prime fact is 
often overlooked by the purchaser and breeder in his 
selection of horses and brood-mares ; and hence the 
more need of some remarks, at this point, upon it. 

A draught-horse requires such a construction of the 
shoulders as to offer a fine and abundant resistance to 
the collar, and so shaped as to fit it evenly ; thus dis- 
tributing the pressure over the entire surface, with 
weight enough to assist the hind-quarters in moving 
the enormous loads which the animal is often called 



HOW TO KNOW HEVI. 31 

upon to draw. To meet these several wants, Nature, 
whose results are always such as the highest reason 
would suggest, builds an upright, thick, and heavy 
shoulder formation, so rounded and filled out with mus- 
cles, flesh, and fibre, that the pressure is not borne by 
that point where it begins when the horse "settles into 
the collar," but is carried up and over the entire resist- 
ing surface. This, to a heavy draught-horse, is a "per- 
fect shoulder ; " and no amount of excellence in the other 
parts of the animal's organization can make good any 
variation from this construction of the shoulders. Such 
a horse will be a "great puller," but heavy and slow of 
movement, and utterly incapable of speed beyond a 
kind of ox-like trot. For the purposes of lighter 
draught the shoulders should be lighter, less circular, 
and more oblique, with a decidedly higher wither; 
for this variation in the shoulder formation will qualify 
him to do moderately heavy work, and at the same time 
enable him to move more lightly and quickly. This 
modified draught-horse is the one for general farm-work, 
and family-service on the road. The old Morgan type 
of shoulder formation — such as Justin Morgan had, for 
instance — is the best possible form for such service, and 
which, in connection with the other excellent qualities 
he possessed, made that horse able to move a heavier 
dead-Aveight than any other horse of his size of which 
we have any record. 

The horse destined for the saddle and carnage service 
should, on the other hand, have an altogether different 



32 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

formation. The shoulders should be quite oblique, and 
the withers high. This height of the withers is essential, 
because this conformation assists the horse in lifting his 
fore-quarters over impediments he may meet in his course 
in road or field. No horse with high withers, if other- 
wise well made, ever stumbles, or trips even. His action 
will be high and safe. The obliquity (slojoe) of the 
shoulders adds to his capacity to stride, and also to 
the rider's or driver's ease. In the case of the rider, the 
saddle-seat is thrown back far enough from the fore- 
shoulders to insure pliancy, and to escape the jolt, which, 
if seated farther forward, he would be sure to receive. 
When a horse with low withers stumbles, the rider is 
thrown forward so that the line of weight is ahead of the 
fore-legs ; in which case it is next to impossible for him 
to recover his horse. There are other reasons why the 
oblique shoulder and high withers are to be preferred; 
but those already mentioned are sufficient to suggest to 
the purchaser and breeder what conformation of the 
shoulders is most desirable. The law, therefore, is, that 
in the case of roadsters and saddle-horses, or gentlemen's 
driving-horses as the phrase is, the withers should be 
thin and high, and the shoulders very oblique. But in 
the case of the horse to be bought and kept solely for his 
speed, or where the breeder is anxious to breed a 2.20 
colt, speed being the sole thing aimed at, I should hreed 
doiun the withers decidedly ; because, in order to insure 
the highest rate of speed, it is essential that the horse 
should go close to the ground, — "go low," as the saying 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 33 

is ; and this no horse with high withers can do. The 
point is this, — that a low-going horse loses less time in 
his stride than a high-going one ; and this fractional varia- 
tion, however minute, counts in a race where the horse 
is timed to, and can only hope to beat his competitor by, 
the fraction of a second. Hence many horsemen of 
close observation prefer a horse whose rump is quite as 
high as the withers, if not a little higher ; and I confess 
to an agreement with them in the matter. But however 
men may differ upon this point, still I think all will agree 
in this, — that it is most unwise, in selecting a horse solely 
for speed, to choose one higher forward than Ijehind. 
Such a horse can never win a race, where, in other 
respects, his rival is his equal. 

Be this, moreover, observed, that it is exceedingly easy 
for one to misjudge touching the length and obhquity 
of the shoulders ; and this is done in five cases out of ten 
when you base your decision on the appearance of the 
withers and upper portion of the shoulder. The height 
of a horse's withers is not a true index of the position or 
length of the shoulder-blades, or of the depth of his 
chest. Many horses with high, thin withers, and appar- 
ently sloping shoulders and deep chest, have, in fact, very 
upright shoulders, and too little chest-room to accommo- 
date the heart and lungs ; while, on the other hand, many 
horses with low withers and apparently circular shoulders 
have the best possible shoulder conformation for wind 
and speed. This is the case especially with some of the 
French or Canadian trotters, and with the whole Morgan 



34 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

family, which, in our opinion, have produced more rapid 
trotters, all things being considered, than any other 
branch of the American trotting family. And in proof 
of this, although the data gathered are not by any means 
complete, and do not show the family to the best ad- 
vantage of which it is capable, I would refer the reader 
to that section of this volume in which I discuss the 
Morgan family at length. 

There are two bones which in the skeleton represent 
the shoulder, and which are of such importance as to 
deserve prominent mention ; the uppermost of which is 
called the scapula. This bone, beginning at the edge of 
the withers, runs downward until it makes an angle with 
the next succeeding bone (the liumerus)^ near the front- 
breast. Tavo points in reference to it should be especially 
noted : first, it cannot be too long for the purposes of 
speed ; secondly, its upper extremity should lie in as close 
as possible to the ribs and spine. The scapula is a wide, 
flat bone embedded in a great mass of muscles, and so 
protected by Nature as to be almost invulnerable to any 
shock or wrench. In ninety-nine cases in a hundred, 
" shoulder lameness " is in reality a lameness in the foot 
or lower bones of the leg, no matter what the " horse- 
doctor" of the neighborhood may say. I have never 
seen an instance of hond-Jide shoulder lameness; al- 
though I have seen scores of horses being treated for 
that complaint. As a peculiarity of construction, and as 
evidence of that supreme wisdom with which God 
through Nature acts, it should be noted that the shoul- 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 85 

der-blade is not connected to the framework of the body, 
as all other bones are, by the cartilages or joints, but is 
attached to it by means of muscular substance only. It 
is literally slung or wrapped up and held by a mass of 
muscle. This is the reason why it is so difficult for any 
jar or wrench to hurt it. The upper edges of the 
scapula cannot, by any pressure or blow, be driven up 
against any other bone (the spinal column or ribs), unless 
by a blow that should literally drive it out through the 
skin, and tear it from the body. By this arrangement, 
Nature has amply provided both for its own protection, 
and also for the ease of the rider, in that the shock of 
the gallop or jump is thereby reduced to a minimum. 
A writer has well said, " If the smith were aware of this 
fact, he would not trace to the shoulder, as he is apt to 
do, one-half the diseases that are located in the foot and 
leg. By referring the lameness to the shoulder, he can 
account easily to the owner of the horse for the result 
of his bad shoeing." Precisely. 

Of the second bone in the shoulder — viz., the hume- 
rus — it is not necessary for me to speak, save to say that 
it should be of good length, and well slanted upward 
toward the scapula. Nothing remains, therefore, for 
me to mention, in connection with the shoulders, but 
the muscles. 

These — by which I mean all connected with the 
shoulder — cannot be too large or powerful, no matter to 
what use the horse may be destined. Every ounce of 
strength here tells. I like to see a shoulder packed in 



36 THE PEEFECT HORSE. 

and laid over with great layers and masses of muscle ; 
none the worse, but all the better, if they reach up as if 
they would overlap even the withers. What we want 
in this locality of the animal's frame is substance^ quan- 
tity. Some admire thin shoulders : not I. Such 
shoulders look best when you start on a long drive : 
they don't look so well after you have made sixty miles, 
with ten more still to make. Light fore-quarters mean 
weak fore-quarters. A horse has to lift himself every 
step he takes, remember : and this is hard work when 
continued for hours, mile after mile ; and nothing less 
than a splendid muscular development about the 
shoulder will enable him to do it. But be sure in your 
inspection that the thick, strong look of the shoulder 
formation is owing to the presence of muscle, and not to 
the fact, as is often the case, that the shoulder-blades are 
set loosely on to the frame, and wide apart. This is a 
vicious conformation for a horse, and a sure evidence 
of weakness in the fore-quarters, from which no diet, or 
care on the part of the owner, can ever deliver him. 
Run your fingers under the upper point of the scapula., 
and see if it is set close in to the spinal column and ribs : 
if it is, and the horse still "looks thick" through the 
shoulders, buy him ; if not, look farther. 

We will now proceed to the examination of the fore- 
leg ; and in this fore-leg are two bones to which I wish 
to call especial attention, — the fore-arm, or radius, as it 
is sometimes called, and the large metacarpal or canon 
bone, as it is popularly named. Lying between these, at 



HOW TO e:now Hm. 37 

the junction of the knee, are the three carpal-bones, of 
which we need not speak. In reference to the fore-arm 
we observe, that it can scarcely be too long, or too 
heavily clothed upon with''/nuscles ; for all the muscles 
which move the leg and foot are located here. Now, 
please remember that the muscles are the only moving 
power in the animal, and that all the muscles to lift and 
extend the foot and leg are placed along this fore-arm, 
and you will at once conclude that the size and fashion 
of the fore-arm is a matter of the utmost importance. 
No strength of shoulder can make good a defective de- 
velopment of those muscles wrapped around the radius ; 
because the strength above cannot make good the 
lack of strength below. Mr. Youatt well says, that, 
" whatever other good points the animal may possess, if 
the arm is narrow in front and near the shoulder, flat on 
the side, and altogether deficient in muscular appear- 
ance, that horse is radically defective. He can neither 
raise his knee for rapid action, nor throw his leg suffi- 
ciently forward." 

The arm should be large at the point of union with 
the body ; taking a strong hold, as it were, of the trunk, 
in order to give a sufficient basis for the attachment of 
muscles. On the back part of the top of the arm, 
where it joins the body, is a projection of bone, called 
the elbow. Without explaining the reason why, — be- 
cause it would requke an examination of mechanical 
principles not within the province of this book, — I 
would say, that it is of the greatest importance that 



38 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

this projection should be broad and strong, and reach- 
ing well back from the front of the arm. If you will 
examine closely the fore-arm of a horse, you will observe 
that in it are three masses of muscles, the location and 
use of which are as follows : One is placed on the outer 
edge of the fore-arm, in front ; the second lies directly 
behind it : and these are employed to extend and bend 
the limb. The third lies inside of the fore-arm, near the 
junction of the leg and chest. The office which this 
muscle fulfils is this : When the horse is in motion, it 
confines the arm to the side', keeps it in a straight line, 
and makes it impossible for the heavy pressure from 
above to separate the legs too widely. You see that all 
of these muscles are of the supremest importance ; for 
in them is held the power of carrying forward the 
whole machine safely and swiftly. Their duty is labo- 
rious. Nor can they shirk it: no other muscles can 
do their work. A weak fore-arm, therefore, is a sad and 
fatal defect in a horse of whom any severe work is 
required. Of these three muscles, the first two must be 
both strong and long. The stronger these muscles, the 
greater the endurance of the horse ; the longer they are, 
the greater his length of stride. This is a law, a disre- 
gard of which in purchasing or breeding will bring its 
own penalty. 

Of the canon-bone, or leg, this should be said : It 
should be short, — the shorter the better : for, if it be 
short, the fore-arm above it is likely to be long ; which 
is a great desideratum in speed. In size it should be 



HOW TO KNOW HEM. 39 

small, but of dense and compact substance, smooth and 
solid as ivory. I do not care how large the fore-arm is, 
nor how small the canon-bone is, unless it be so small 
as to amount to maleformation. Active, energetic, and 
hardy people are apt to have small wrists and ankles. 
The prize-fighter's arm and leg, when in his prime con- 
dition and he stands stripped in the ring, are wonderful 
for two things, — the apparent smallness of the wrist-bone 
and ankle-bone near the sockets, and the great mass of 
swelling muscles packed on above them ; and this is re- 
garded as the best conformation for agility and strength. 
Indeed, large bones are associated with, and found most 
frequently in, men and women of soft, flabby, and 
lymphatic constitutions. Especially does this hold true 
in the case of speed. The Indian runner is never a 
large-boned man. The deer, giraffe, and greyhound are 
small of limb. Why do men expect Nature to make an 
exception to this beautiful law in the case of the horse ? 
On what principle that will bear inspection can this dif- 
ference be argued ? " There are not many," says an Irish 
writer, " I imagine, who would admire the human leg 
with the thick end of it next the ground." 

But, if the canon-bone must not be of too great a size 
around it, it should be wide when viewed laterally, and 
thin when viewed from behind. A flat, compact leg- 
bone, devoid of flesh, with the tendons standing well out 
from the bone, terminating at the knee in a large flat 
joint, — this width at the knee-pan affords plenty of space 
for the attachment of the necessary Hgaments, and also 



40 THE PEEFECT HORSE. 

gives a good opportunity for the sinews to run over -it. 
I do not care so much for the size of the bone as I do 
for the material of the neighboring parts. The sinews 
should be large, because a large sinew is always con- 
nected with a large muscle. Above all, it is desirable 
that they should be of such firm texture as to feel to 
the examining touch like so many distinct and closely- 
woven cords. If they are swathed in a soft, puffy 
material, and feel to the hand as if incased in fat, 
instead of being cordy and wire-like, you may well 
beware of them. To this may be added, that the 
sinews should be thrown out from the leg-bone ; be- 
cause if they do not, but are tied down closely to it by 
the ligaments which bind them to their place, they will 
be exposed to a dangerous friction and strain. Such a 
leg is a bad leg to have under any horse. 

I would here pause to observe, lest I should be mis- 
understood, that the reason why the leg of a cart-horse 
must be larger than the leg of a thorough-bred is not 
because the thorough-bred's would not answer if the 
cart-horse had it, but because the cart-horse does not 
have it : by which I mean, that, when you do not have fine 
bone texture, you must have size ; for sufficient strength 
to uphold the horse must, of course, be there in the one 
form or the other. And, since the leg-bone of the cart- 
horse is porous and spongy, it must be larger in bulk, in 
order to supply the needed amount of strength. 

The last portion of the fore-leg that I shall mention 
in detail is the ]pastern. A bad pastern is a great defect. 



HOW TO KNOW HEM. 41 

It- should not only be strong, but placed in the 
proper position, and at the right angle of inclination. 
In the horse of slow work the pastern should be short, 
and nearly upright ; but, in the horse kept for speed, it 
should be long and well slanted, in order that it may be 
sufficiently elastic to relieve the .ends of the upright 
bones of the terrible concussion which would otherwise 
be given to them whenever the foot, while the horse is in 
rapid motion, is brought to the ground. A saddle-horse 
for instance, whose pasterns are short and nearly per- 
pendicular, will feel stiff and uncomfortable to his rider; 
while the jars and the jolts to which he is exposed by 
every step he takes will shortly induce disease in the 
feet, and bones of the leg. But the pasterns must not 
slope at too great an angle, as those of some animals do ; 
for then the weight of the horse falls so far back of the 
foot, that the bones do not help uphold the body, and 
the whole burden of support is put upon those tendons 
that run over the back-side of the ankle-joint. Such 
a formation will invariably and speedily lead to the 
straining and breaking-down of the back tendons. "If 
the pasterns are too long and too small in the hunter 
and steeple-chaser, they will not be able to sustain their 
weight in dropping from their leaps over fences ; but if 
they are tolerably long, very thick, and well slanted, 
they will have plenty of strength, combined with a suffi- 
cient degree of elasticity. An upright pastern, whether 
long or short, is highly objectionable in a horse for either 
saddle or harness ; and a weak one is, in all cases, un- 
pardonable." 



42 THE PERFECT HOKSB. 



THE FORE-FEET. 

I do not propose to anticipate at this point what I 
shall have to say farther on in that division devoted to 
the construction of the feet, and the manner in which 
to shoe them. I will, therefore, now only speak of the 
outward conformation of the hoof The foot should 
neither be large nor small, but of a neat appearance, 
and medium size. I am no friend to the large, flat foot. 
I regard this formation as a very undesirable one. It 
suggests to me that the companion-bones of the skele- 
ton of which it is a part are likewise soft and porous. 

It is not the large, flat-footed man that can walk the 
farthest, or leap the highest; and the spry est and swift- 
est-footed animals of the world have small, upright, 
horny hoofs. The chamois, antelope, red deer, and wild 
horse, all have this formation of the feet. The mule has 
a hoof that many horsemen would call contracted / and 
yet who ever saw a mule lame in the foot ? My idea is, 
that a medium-sized and neatly-proportioned foot is as 
good a sign in the horse as in the man. A foot that is 
either exceedingly large, or quite small, is, to my mind, 
suggestive of disease in the internal structure of the 
foot. The great hue and cry about "a wide, open 
heel," is a humbug. The heels that never look that 
way are those of a Morgan or French horse, both of 
which are noted for foot-soundness. I do not remember 
that I have ever seen an unsound- foot under a Canadian 
horse ; and yet the hoof of the Canadian horse is invari- 



HOW TO KNOW HBI. 43 

ably upright, nearly circular, mule-shaped. I commend 
these suggestions to those who are forever crying " con- 
tracted feet " against a horse, unless he has a foot large 
and flat as an old-fashioned frying-pan. 

Touching the shape of the foot, I would say, the hoof 
should be longer on its ground-surface than broad ; and 
the breadth should be greatest directly across its centre, 
lessening gradually both toward the heel and toe. 
Avoid a very high heel, and also a very low one. 
Either extreme is objectionable. 

The outer surface of the foot should be smooth, and 
of fine texture ; free from rings, depressions, or protru- 
berances. Brittle hoofs shun ; and select the fine- 
grained, tough-looking hoof 

The slant of the hoof on its ground-surface deserves 
close attention. The true and proper angle is about 
fifty degrees. If less than this, and the hoof is very 
deep at the heels, it is predisposed to contraction, 
and likely to become inflamed. If, on the other hand, 
the reverse is the case, the sole is likely to be too flat, 
the heels too much exposed ; and internal weakness 
'follows. A low heel in connection with a very sloping 
pastern is to be especially avoided. 

The frog should be large, elastic, and healthy in 
appearance. It should not be allowed to become too 
dry ; nor, on the other hand, to be too spongy and soft. 
It is probably intended by Nature as a kind of elastic 
cushion, and should never be tampered with. Let it 
grow as large as Nature permits ; knowing well, that, in 



44 THE PERFECT HOBSB. 

her adaptation of means to an end, the good old dame 
is wiser than a whole college of surgeons. For further 
remarks upon the subject of the feet, I refer the reader 
to the division of this book upon shoeing. 

We have now examined the structure of the fore-leg 
in detail ; but, before we part with it, let us contemplate 
the matter, for a moment, as a whole. When examined 
from the front, the space or distance between the fore- 
legs should be the same from the breast to the ground. 
A horse so constructed will rarely be a " speedy cutter " 
or a "brusher," or go any other way than in a clean, 
handsome, straight-forward manner. When viewed 
from the side, the leg should be, as nearly as possible, 
perpendicular. If it inclines backward very much, too 
much weight will be thrown in front of it ; while, if it 
be pointed out forward, the weight from above will fall 
too heavily upon the back tendons, and injuries be the 
result. I agree perfectly with Carson when he says, 
" The leg should drop perfectly straight from its junc- 
tion with the shoulder to the ground ; and the point of 
the toe should come as near as possible to a straight line 
under the point of the shoulder," 

The elbow, the location of which I have already de- 
scribed, should be examined; for it is by no means 
an insignificant member. The danger is, that it is likely 
to be pointed too far in or out. If turned in, it will 
chafe against the saddle-girths and belly-bands, and 
thus be a source of constant annoyance to the owner. 
It also compels a vicious knee-action, and to the turning- 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 45 

out of the toe when the horse is in motion, styled 
"paddUng." The horse with an elbow so placed will 
also be a "brusher;" that is, he will continually be 
striking the toe of one foot against the opposite ankle. 
When, on the other hand, the elbow is turned out, the toe 
is generally turned in ; which is a fault of construction 
far worse than the former one. Such a horse is neither 
speedy, nor safe to ride. I do not wish to be under- 
stood as saying that no horse with his toes turned in 
was ever speedy ; for such instances are seen every year 
on the road or track : but, in these cases, the turning-in 
of the toes was due to the peculiar way in which the 
hoof itself was set on, and not to the construction of 
the elbow. But, when the elbow is turned out, you 
will never find speed. In support of this opinion 
many high authorities could be quoted. 

As regards the knees, they should never be bent 
either forward or backward; although some defend a 
slight backward curve, as a sure sign that the horse Can 
never stumble, because, as they say, "he is so well back 
on his knees." For myself, if the leg must lose its exact 
perpendicular position, I should greatly prefer that it 
should incline forward rather than backward, because, by 
this backward inclination, the back muscles and sinews 
of the leg are all interfered with, and positively checked 
in their action ; while it is a fact of my own observation 
and experience, as it is of others of wider observation 
and larger experience than myself, that some of the 
very safest and fastest horses ever known have been 



46 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

animals rather forward on their legs at the knees. Still 
the exact perpendicular is the true and desirable direc- 
tion for the leg. 

I feel that I cannot do better, in this connection, than 
to lay before the reader the opinion of one whose judg- 
ment I have already quoted upon another matter. He 
says, — 

"I think any person who takes the trouble of opening 
his eyes may see that the safety of the horse's knees 
depends chiefly on the slant of the shoulder and pastern^ 
together with the method in which the foot is brought into 
contact with the ground. On this last point I am at 
variance with popular opinion, which says that a horse, 
in order to be safe, requires to be a high-lifter. I look 
upon high-lifting as a very great fault. Just imagine 
a man walking down one of the thoroughfares of Lon- 
don or Dublin, and lifting his feet at every step half 
way to his knee! He would certainly gain a great 
deal of admu'ation at the expense of his corns, and 
perhaps the point of his nose. Now, where is the 
difference between a man and a horse, which should 
make such a difference in the mode of their progres- 
sion ? It is the laying-down of the foot which renders 
the animal safe. Of course, the foot should be raised 
sufficiently high to prevent the toe from coming into 
contact with the ground ; but this is very different from 
what is called high action. My objections are intended 
to apply entirely to those which are denominated high- 
steppers. I would avoid all such as much as the daisy- 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 47 

cutter. The medium course is tlie only safe one. If 
the horse lifts his foot clear of the road, and lays his 
heel first to the ground, he cannot fall ; as stumbling is 
usually occasioned by sticking the toe into the road, or 
striking it against a stone, just as the foot is being 
brought down into contact with the surface. A horse 
seldom, if ever, falls in the act of lifting his foot ; simply 
because, in that position, he has no weight depending 
upon it. He will fall only when he places the toe on 
the ground before the heel. Under these circumstances, 
a slight obstacle will bend the pastern forward ; and, as 
the weight of the body is now intended to be thrown 
on the limb, away he goes. Let the horse with a 
well-slanted shoulder and pastern throw his foot well 
forward, and then bring his heel first to the ground, 
and I will answer for his safety. He will also stand 
more work than the very high-stepper, whose peculiar 
action is certain to inflame his feet, as well as to pro- 
mote the development of a variety of diseases to which 
the fore-legs are liable. Of course, the observations I 
have made are applicable to shape and action alone, 
and have no reference to those cases where a fall is 
caused by the pressure of a sharp stone on a tender and 
diseased foot. It must be evident, a case of that sort 
is very different from one of ordinary tripping. The 
one is the result of disease ; the other, of development 
or form." — Carson on the Horse. 

We have now examined the head, neck, chest, shoul- 
ders, and fore-legs of a horse, and pointed out the 



48 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

peculiar formation and characteristics wliicli should dis- 
tinguish them ; and I flatter myself that the reader who 
has followed me carefully is pretty well informed touch- 
ing these several parts of the organization. But several 
others still remain to be examined ; which we will now 
proceed to inspect. The next in order, if not in im- 
portance, is the 

BACK. 

The first thing to observe in judging of a horse, so far 
as his back is concerned, is the length of it. A long 
back is a weak back, the world over, and in every in- 
stance. By superior excellence of structure in other 
respects, the weakness of the back may be, in some 
measure, made up ; but the horse can never be the horse 
he would have been had his back been a shorter one. 
I do not care how short a horse's back is ; for it is a sure 
evidence to me that he can carry or drag a heavy 
weight a great distance, and not tire : neither, if he be 
speedy, will two or three seasons of turf experience 
break him down, as is the case with so many of our 
speedy, long-backed horses. Old Morrill and Flora 
Temple are instances in the past ; and the famous grand- 
son of Old Morrill, Fearnaught, and Taggart's Abdallah, 
are good illustrations among horses now living. This 
conformation of the back is, in my opinion, a grave 
objection against Young Morrill and Rysdyk's Hamble- 
tonian. I yield to both the meed of great excellence. 
I would speak as warmly in their eulogy as any man 
with reason could. But, in spite of all their excellences, 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 49 

I still declare that both of them would have been 
decidedly better horses had they been coupled shorter 
and more strongly on the back. If Young Morrill had 
had the back of his sire, — one of the most marvel- 
lous specimens of perfect bone structure and muscular 
power ever bred, — he would never have gotten so many 
swayed-backed colts as now stand to his charge. The 
same is the case, in even greater measure, with Rysdyk's 
Hambletonian. We know what he has done in the 
stud. We know, that, crossed on mares of a certain 
pattern and blood, especially on the daughters of Ameri- 
can Star, the son of the great Henry, he has given us 
trotters of the highest speed, and second to none in 
endurance. All this I admit, because it is a fact. But 
all this is true in spite of his hack, not because of it : 
and, where he has gotten one colt closely and strongly 
coupled up in the back and loins (as every colt should 
be), he has sent forth five or ten without this admirable 
construction ; nay, representatives of the other form. 
You may attend the fairs of the country, and eight out 
of every ten of the Hambletonian stallions exhibited 
will present to the eye this unfortunate peculiarity. In 
reply it will be urged that these long-backed horses 
have an " enormous stride." I grant that they do stride 
a great distance ; but I also notice that their feet stay 
under the sulhj a long time. The power to "twitch 
their feet out from under the wagon," as an old driver 
once expressed it to me, does not belong to them. 
You never find it in connection with a long back. I 

4 



50 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

wish to breed colts with an " enormous stride " as ear- 
nestly as any one ; but I wish that these colts blessed 
with an " enormous stride " should have the knack also of 
gathering quickly. A long stride and a quick recovery 
is what I desire to see in the colts bred on my farm. 
But, in respect to the length of stride, I have this to 
say, — that it is not in any way the result of the length 
of back. What we wish is a long stride and a quick 
gather ; and the latter you can never find in connection 
with a long back, and the former you can find in connec- 
tion with a short one. It is not the length of the back 
which gives length of stride, but the position of the 
pasterns, the slope of the shoulders, and the position 
of the great bones of the hind-legs. There must be 
length somewhere, I admit, or else the horse cannot 
stride far ; or, if he attempts it, he will be forever 
" over-reaching," or " forging" as the phrase goes. But 
ivliere should the length be located ? That is the ques- 
tion to be answered ; and we say, The length should 
be located heloiv^ and not above. The length should be 
put in hehveen the slioidder-joint and the hams of the 
horse. There is where it was put in Flora Temple, and 
which gave her such a tremendous stride for so small an 
animal; and there, too, is where you find it in Dexter, 
Fearnaught, and Taggart's Abdallah, whose stride on a 
sandy track I have measured, and found to be twenty 
feet! If that is not an "enormous stride," enough to 
satisfy any one, I should be pleased to know what is ; 
and yet Abdallah has a short, muscular, Morgan-like 



HOW TO KNOW HTM. 61 

back, as liis sii-e, Farmer's Beauty, and Ms grandsire, 
Gifford Morgan, had before liim. There never was a 
falser theory, or one calculated to beget more mis- 
chief among breeders, than this, — that we must breed 
long-backed colts in order to get length of stride. I 
have always noticed that the horses long in the back, 
and loosely coupled at the hips, are the horses that 
always "come to the judges' stand padded and swathed 
with "pads" and "shields" and "protectors" enough 
to stock a small-sized horse- clothing establishment. The 
reason is, because there is too little strength in the back 
and loins to deliver their strokes in a straight line, or to 
"catch" quickly and handily when they "break." It is 
at such a time, — the supreme hour of the animal's life, 
perhaps, — when fame and money hang evenly in the 
balance, and ten thousand eyes are watching him, and 
the horse is going at the top of his speed, that forma- 
tion, and perfection of organic structure, tell. At such 
an hour I desire no long-backed animal to represent me. 
And in this connection I would observe, that it is sur- 
prising that so little attention is paid by breeders and 
trainers to this matter of strengthening the back. I see 
no reason why the back of a horse may not, by judicious 
treatment, be strengthened, as can be done in the case 
of the man. Dio Lewis will take a weak-backed man, 
and in two years, yes, in half that time, more than double 
the strength of his back. He will make a man with a 
weak back by nature have a strong one. If the muscles 
in the back of a man can be thus enlarged and developed, 



52 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

why cannot the same be done in the case of a horse, and 
by the same method; viz., the imposition of weights, 
gradually increased, day by day, up to the maximum of 
safety ? 

Next in importance to the shortness of the back is 
the width of the bone formation over the kidneys. At 
this point, viewed from the side, the back should be 
seen to rise a little, — not too much. I do not fancy a 
'^ roach-backed " horse, but with a gentle, easy eleva- 
tion. Above all, beware of a horse with any considera- 
ble depression at this point. The ribs should stand 
straight out from the backbone, and be long, giving 
great width over the kidneys, and a good chance for the 
muscles to take hold of the framework. I do not 
fancy any very considerable dip behind the withers. 
Such a formation of the spinal column and ribs is sure 
to cramp and interfere with the heart and lungs within 
the chest, which, above all, is to be avoided : for, with- 
out a well-developed and well-located centre to his 
blood-system, the horse cannot have health ; and, with- 
out lung-room, he cannot have speed over any but short 
distances. It is lungs more than any thing else that 
decide how fast a horse can trot. (See section on lungs.') 

We now come to the examination of the most essen- 
tial portion of the horse's frame, — the 

HIND-QUARTERS. 

Here it is that the strength and speed lie. The fore- 
legs are for supports : they uphold the body, neck, and 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 53 

head, — that is all. They add nothing, or next to noth- 
ing, to the motive-power. They must be sound, and 
well sustained with muscles, or they cannot uphold the 
superincumbent weight, or move themselves with the 
needed quickness. But with this their function ends. 
They appropriate their own power. They are, as it 
were, altogether selfish. Not so with the hind-legs. 
They are the great motors of the body. They push 
the entu'e frame' through the air. They set the heavy 
wagon behind in motion. Watch a horse as he is about 
to start a load. How does he do it? Where is the 
power to imsh located ? Evidently in his hind quarters 
and legs. The most casual glance, as the horse lowers 
himself to his work, will reveal this fact. Watch a 
horse in the exercise-field; observe him as he rears 
for the leap, and see him as he goes into the air. 
How did he leave the ground ? What launched him up 
along that splendid leap ? There can be but one an- 
swer : The hind-legs do it all. Hence the need of power 
at this point. There cannot be too much ; for the effort 
that he is called upon to make at times is prodigious. 
It is well authenticated that the celebrated horse 
Yainhope made a leap thu-ty-four feet in length. The 
English hunters will clear a strong, six-barred gate with 
a hundred and ninety pounds in the saddle. Such feats 
cannot be done unless the bone structure and muscular 
development of the hind-quarters are simply perfect. 
Let us, therefore, examine this supremely important sec- 
tion of the horse's body, in order to ascertain what must 



54 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

be the position and length of the bones, and the char- 
acteristic appearance of those muscles by the use of 
which a spirited animal is able to perform his mighty- 
deeds. How does a horse look to the eye when the 
formation of his hind-quarters is as it should be? 

Several things must be kept in mind by the student : 
First, that the bones must be of the proper length, of 
the right size, and be put together in a right position ; 
and, secondly, that the muscles must be of the right 
length and size, and have the right direction. The 
bones, remember, are the levers ; while the muscles are 
the powers by which these levers are moved. We all 
know that a weight is more easily lifted by a long lever 
than a short one ; that the lever must be large enough 
to have the required strength, and, above all, placed at 
the right angle, in order that every ounce of the applied 
weight may be utilized in the best possible manner. 
This, in brief, is the philosophy of the whole matter. 
When the bones are short, and badly placed, the mus- 
cles do not act upon them in such a way as to secure 
the needed power ; and the leap attempted is not made, 
or the wished-for stride obtained. Long bones, well 
placed, imply great leverage ; and long muscles mean 
that the contracting power by which the levers are 
moved is great. On these conditions, stride depends ; 
and therefore it is that length of bones and muscles in 
the hind-quarters of a horse is a thing greatly to be 
desired. In order to get a true and adequate knowl- 
edge of the hind-quarters of a horse, let us inspect the 
several parts in detail. 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 65 



THE RUMP, 

or haunch, should not be excessively broad : al- 
though it is the naiTow rump that should be most 
avoided ; for, if the rump is narrow, there will be a de- 
cided lack of power. The rump-bones should be well 
projected on each side of the hips. Nor do I object, 
when looking for speed, if the projection is so great as 
to cause the horse to be "ragged-hipped." Such 
horses, if otherwise well constructed, must, of necessity, 
be very powerful horses. The bones that reach from 
the kidneys to the projection of the hip can scarcely be 
too long, especially in animals kept for speed. Short- 
ness here means shortness of stride. The side-bones of 
the haunch should droop well down, and not stand out 
nearly level. I knoAV that some straight or level 
rumped horses can trot, and trot fast too ; but still, as a 
rule, the horse with a moderately drooping rump is the 
best. Such a horse, if he is in other respects put to- 
gether right, is sure to go. He will swing along easily. 
The stifle-joint will be launched out well ahead, and his 
leg be thrown well forward. This far-reaching-forward 
motion of stifle and leg will insure length to his stride, 
and trueness of balance. He will be a level goer. His 
trotting will be done with his legs, and not with his 
body. Note that this droop of the rump is not incon- 
sistent with roundness of superficial formation : for mus- 
cles can be so massed at this point, that the rump shall 
have a full and plump appearance ; and this is the most 



66 THE PERFECT HOESB. 

perfect of all formations. Such a bone structure, in 
connection with such muscular development, is perfec- 
tion itself 

Let us now look at the 

THIGH. 

This bone extends from the hip-joint to that point 
where it unites with the upper section of the bone 
balled the tibia • the union of the two composing the 
stifle-joint. As in the case of the scapula (shoulder- 
blade), the thigh-bone is buried in and wrapped about 
with an enormous mass of muscular substance. This 
bone is one of the most important of the entire frame. 
It is connected with those great muscles which alone are 
able to propel the entire system. 

This bone cannot be too long, because the length of 
it decides the reach of the hind-quarters. If this bone 
is short, and the bone below it short, the horse may be 
strong ; but he cannot be fast. He will be a short-step- 
per; and no quickness of motion can make good the 
absence of a long, sweeping stride. Be sure, then, before 
you purchase the animal, that these two bones are long, 
and properly placed. The muscles also, as I have al- 
ready suggested, play a most important part in connec- 
tion with these bones. From these alone, remember, 
comes the power to move them. The degree of their 
length gauges their contracting force, by which the 
bones are made to move. Be sure, then, that these mus- 
cles are long, large, and hard. Their size can be de- 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 67 

cided by the fulness of the parts they compose ; their 
length, by the distance which intervenes between the 
haunch-bone and the thigh-bone, and also by the dis- 
tance lying between the hip and the hock. This last 
line cannot be too long. A hock well down towards 
the ground is a sight that delights the horseman's eye. 
In respect to the muscles that lie along the thigh-bone, 
— which I overlooked when speaking of this part, — I 
would observe, that they should be strong, and well de- 
veloped inside as well as outside of the thigh. Thinness 
and flatness of formation here argue decided absence 
of strength. Indeed, when looking at the thigh from 
behind, the muscles should absolutely swell out, giving 
to the otherwise flat surface of the thigh-bone a rounded 
appearance. This is the very perfection of shape. Such 
a horse will be a sturdy goer, no matter how heavy the 
roads. The stifle-joint should extend well forward, and 
be placed well down. This formation removes the stifle 
to a proper distance from the pin-bone as well as from 
the front-side of the haunch-bone, gives greater surface- 
room for the attachment of muscles, increases their 
length, and decidedly improves their leverage. The 
greater the distance between these several parts, the bet- 
ter is the formation in every respect. Look for a large- 
sized stifle-joint, no matter how broad it is across the 
front, for here is one of the points of extreme action ; 
and socket-room, as well as room for the muscles, is 
indispensable. The wider the thigh is from the stifle to 
the back edge of the thigh, the better. The muscular 



58 , THE PERFECT HORSE. 

formation here should be distinct and prominent. 
Quantity and length of bone and muscle should be the 
peculiar characteristic of this section of the body. 
Never be persuaded, by any perfection of structure as 
to the rest of the body, that it can make amends for 
imperfection and lack at this point. The perfect in 
nature is reached through the perfection of all the parts 
which go to compose the whole. No one muscle can 
do the work asMgned by Nature to the other. The 
length of one bone cannot make good the loss of lever- 
age, and therefore of propelling power, which results 
from the shortness of another. You cannot be too severe 
in your analysis of the horse's frame. Every part of it 
must be perfect ; every bone and muscle of the proper 
length, and properly placed ; or else the animal will fail 
you at the supreme test. He will be a good capable 
horse up to a certain point ; but beyond that, if he is 
faulty in any part of his organization, no art or contriv- 
ance of man can push him. He will always come a lit- 
tle short of that line which your hope had drawn, and 
which, upon an imperfect examination of him, the aver- 
age horseman would say he would certainly attain. 
This great fact should never be forgotten by the 
breeder when selecting his brood-mares and the horse 
that is to be the sire of his stables. Faulty parents be- 
get faulty children. This is Nature's great fiat ; and it is 
vain for man to seek to elude it. I know that imper- 
fection of structure can be modified somewhat for the 
better by judicious crossing ; but the instances in which 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 59 

it is entirely remedied, so far as my experience and ob- 
servation go, are exceedingly rare. There is nothing 
certain about it. Such breeding is, in spite of every 
thing one can do, unreliable, and too much the matter 
of luck. The only sure way, as it is the only business- 
like way, is to have perfection m both parents ; and then 
the great law, that like produces like, will tell in your 
favor, and insure you success. Beware of choosing for 
the sire of your colts an excessively long-backed horse, 
or one faulty in the construction of his hind-quarters. 
Never be led away and enticed by the gloss of his coat, 
the fineness of his neck and head, the splendid develop- 
ment of his chest and shoulders, into breeding from 
him, if he is poor in the muscular formation of his quar- 
ters. It is in his haunch and thigh that strength and 
speed lie ; and here every thing should be long, broad, 
and full. If you are a breeder, you can disregard this, 
and because of cheapness, or facility of service, content 
yourself with an inferior sire ; but I wish you to dis- 
tinctly understand, in this case, that you are not to blame 
the principles of breeding for the result of your folly, 
but your own foolishness in discarding them. With 
here and there an exception, your colts will be what 
the parents are, — imperfect animals ; which is all you 
have deserved. You have just what you bred from over 
again ; and this is all that was possible for Nature under 
the circumstances to give you. The men who cry 
"that breeding does not pay" are men who make it 
impossible to pay by the substitution of ignorance in 



60 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

the place of intelligence, and niggardliness in the place 
of wise liberality, in the selection of their brood-mares 
and the horse who sires their colts. I never knew 
any business to pay, especially one demanding so much 
of intelligence as breeding, when the sole condition 
of success — the knowledge how to adapt means to an 
end — was totally lacking. 

We will now pass to the consideration of 

THE HOCK. 

The principal reason, perhaps, why this is worthy of 
the closest attention, is because it is the seat, for the most 
part, of all the lameness that occurs in the hind-quarters ; 
and this liability to lameness doubtless springs from the 
fact, that the strain put upon it by the propelling muscles 
is so sudden and heavy, that it requires to be remark- 
ably well formed in order to remain sound. To be well 
formed, the hock, in the first place, must be of large 
size. No matter how symmetrical it may look to the 
eye : if it is not large^ it will never stand severe work. 
Never be afraid or ashamed of large, coarse-looking 
hocks. Such hocks are always beautiful to me. Re- 
member that here the great motor sinews are; and 
sufficient room must be given them to play freely and 
easily, and without the least friction. Remember, that, 
the larger the bones are which make up this joint, the 
wider will be the surface to which the great powerful 
ligaments which keep these bones in their places can 
be attached, as likewise the greater will be the surface 



HOW TO KNOW HEM. .61 

over which will be distributed the concussions to which 
this joint is inevitably exposed when the horse is in 
rapid action. But size alone is not enough. It should 
be well proportioned, each and every part of fit and 
adequate size, so that symmetry, also, shall be attained. 
The bone that forms the hindermost point of the hock 
can scarcely be too large ; for, the farther it is pushed 
up, the greater is the leverage capacity of those im- 
mense sinews which are inserted into it. This bone 
should be strong and of great size, as should also be 
the sinew which runs upward towards the thigh. 
This should stand well out fi'om the bone, so as to be 
clearly perceived by the eye, and easily examined by 
the pressure of the finger. The lower thigh-bone 
should run into the hock-joint at a pretty sharp angle ; 
but here the angular formation should cease. From 
this point down to the pastern the leg-bone should be 
as straight as a perpendicular line ; for whatever curve 
there may be to it, will, as you can understand, cause the 
back sinews to work at a great disadvantage. Friction 
with every movement must result; and it is friction 
which begets inflammation. Such a horse is ever liable 
to become curbed. A word about this curb. The back 
sinew which runs down along the edge of the hock-joint 
is held safely in its place by a ligament specially de- 
signed for this purpose, called the annula ligament. 
This spans the joint at the lower end of it like an arch 
from one side to the other. Of course, if the bones are 
so placed as to allow the sinew to run in an exact per- 



62 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

pendicular line, there will be less strain brought to bear 
upon this annula ligament, which keeps it in its place ; 
and it will be able to bear the strain which the horse 
with every stride or leap puts upon it. But if any 
considerable variation from this formation occurs, either 
by the rounding of the leg-bone at this point or the 
turning-in of the hocks towards each other, there will 
be a corresponding friction and strain brought to bear 
upon the annular ligament. The sinew will be liable 
to start out completely from its natural position, the 
beautiful arrangement of Nature at this point disrupted, 
and an unseemly tumor be the result. This tumor is 
the curl). Once formed, the joint is forever impaired. 
The sinew, you see, is actually torn out of its place ; the 
band that should have held it in its natural position is 
unduly strained or parted ; and perpetual v;-eakness is 
the result. In purchasing, beware of a curb. Any 
protuberance, however slight, at this point, should be 
regarded with grave suspicion ; and the money which 
you were to give for the horse, keep in your pocket. 
In addition to the curb, another evidence of unsound- 
ness is to be looked for at this locality. I refer to 
the sjmvin. The bones of the hock are the natural 
seat of this disorder or infliction. Protection from 
this terrible evil lies in the size and symmetry of 
the hock-bones. Coarse-looking and strong joints are 
not likely to get out of order; but your smooth, neat, 
dandy -looking joints rarely, if ever, stand any consid- 
erable amount of work. I do not think that spavin, in 



HOW TO KNOW HIM. 63 

as many cases as some imagine, springs so much from 
the imperfect formation of the hock as from scrofulous 
tendencies in the animal, which render him constitution- 
ally exposed to joint and bone disease ; and so it happens 
that no size and symmetry of the hock can ever be 
regarded as an infallible protection from the spavin. 
Another cause of spavin, and perhaps the greatest, 
especially in America, is injudicious shoeing. If a horse, 
for instance, brushes, the smith will say, " Oh, I can cure 
him of that ! " and so indeed he can, and without the 
employment of any marvellous amount of wisdom 
either. All that he needs to do is to cause the shoe to 
be thicker on one side of the heel than the other, and 
the horse will not brush ; but this construction of the 
shoe, it should be remembered, causes so much more 
weight to be thrown upon one part of the hock-joint 
than another, that disease is pretty sure to be the result. 
"I wish," says an intelligent writer, "that these smiths 
had the one side of their boot raised an inch higher than 
the other in order that they might enjoy the same pleasure 
that they have conferred upon the horse. They would 
then, especially if compelled to run and jump, have an 
opportunity of knowing how long their ankle and knee 
joints would continue sound." The last cause of spavin 
I shall mention, and perhaps the most frequent, is the 
smallness of the shank-bone at its junction with 
the hock. The hock has not sufficient surface to rest 
upon. The force of the concussion to which it is 
exposed is not sufficiently distributed ; and spavin is the 



64 THE PEKFECT HORSE. 

result. I have seen horses so badly constructed in this 
respect, that, in looking at them from a side-view, 
the front of the shank-bone immediately below the 
hock-joint looked as if it had been shaved away. I 
need not say that this is a fearful defect ; for the bone 
at this point, in order to receive and carry the joint 
properly, should be wide and thick. A broad, firm 
basis for what is above to rest upon is one of the best 
possible assurances that the owner can have that his 
horse will never be spavined. In further description of 
the shank-bone, I would remark that it should be short, 
stout, and flat : a long, round 'formation is as bad a one , 
as perverted nature can form. " Wide as a slab " was 
the description which an old stage-driver in Vermont 
once gave me of his ideal shank-bone ; and a very good 
description it was too. In a well-formed leg the back 
sinews should be brought well out from the bone, and 
feel to the finger like finely-twisted cords. See to it 
that they are free from all irregularities of surface, such 
as puffs, notches, and globules of fatty substance. Let 
them, rather, be smooth and hard as scraped bone. Ob- 
serve, also, that the lower end of the shank-bone, as well 
as the upper, should be of sufl&cient size to make a 
strong and solid connection with the pastern, which 
should be longer, stronger, and more oblique, than the 
pastern of the fore-leg. In short, see to it, that, from 
the line of the rump to the ground-surface of the hind- 
foot, bone and muscle alike look as if they were of 
such size and strength, and so admii'ably adjusted in 



HOW TO KKOW HIM. 65 

their proper positions, that they can do and endure all 
things. A horse with such an appearance in the hind- 
quarters, if otherwise well formed and of right tempera- 
ment, will never fail you, but will remain, until old age 
diminishes the natural forces of his well-constructed 
organism, the pride and ornament of your stable. 

I have now gone over the several parts of the horse, 
upon the character of which his structure, and hence 
his usefulness, depends. I have striven to avoid the 
employment of such terms as would be difficult for 
the average reader to understand. If I have suc- 
ceeded to that extent to which I aspired, the reader 
who has carefully followed me in my remarks has such 
knowledge of the organs, bones, muscles, and general 
shape and appearance, of the horse, as to qualify him to 
select with wise discrimination the animal or animals 
which he needs for either general or specific service, 
or for the purposes of breeding. He cannot hereafter 
be deceived by the cunning of dishonorable men, or 
have any but himself to blame, if he invest his money 
unwisely in his future purchases: But I ask him to ob- ' 
serve, that all data for man's information are worthless, 
unless, when attained, they are used in connection with 

his own observation and intelligence? 

It is by the use of your own eyes and fingers, my 
reader, in connection with the knowledge I have now 
put in your possession, that you can become wise in 
horse-craft. Suffer, at this point, two or three cautions. 
The first is. Buy on your oiun judgment^ and not on that 



66 THE PEKFECT HOKSE. 

of another man. I would speak with all modesty ; and 
yet I would say, that it is my firm belief, that if you 
have closely perused the preceding pages, and thought- 
fully pondered them until the main suggestions I have 
made are well fixed in your memory, you are better 
prepared to go forth and purchase horses discreetly 
and profitably than nine out of ten of those professional 
horsemen as they are called. Exercise your own judg- 
ment, then, getting greater wisdom by your mistakes ; 
which, I warrant you, under the conditions supposed, 
will not be many nor grave. But, if you are to thus 
trust wholly to yourself (which I decidedly advise), be 
deliberate and thorough in your examination of the 
animal under inspection. Note every point in order as 
I have followed in this work. Let eye and finger alike 
contribute to your decision. Feel of the bones, muscles, 
and sinews. It would be difficult to cheat you, even 
were your eyes bandaged, if you would receive the 
knowledge of the animal's shape and condition which 
might come to you through your hands alone. 

Be sure that the horse you purchase has symmetry ; 
viz., is tuell projportioned throughout. Never purchase 
a horse because he has a splendid development of one 
part of his organization, if he be lacking in any other. 
Above all, keep well in mind what you are buying /or, 
and buy the horse best adapted to the work you will 
require of him ; and, when such an animal is yours, be 
content. Never jockey. An occasional exchange may 
be allowable; but this daily "swapping" of horses 



HOW TO KNOW HEVI. 67 

advertises a man's incompetency for any thing higher. 
Another caution is this : Never purchase a horse until 
you have seen him move, and under the same condi- 
tions to which he will be exposed in the service you 
will expect of him. If for a draught, see him draw, 
back, and turn round in both directions ; if for the 
road, see how he handles himself, not merely on level 
ground, but on going up sharp declivities, and, above 
all, in descending them. In this way you will ascer- 
tain the faults or excellences of both his temper and 
structure. 

In these exercises drive him yourself. The reins in 
a skilful hand, aided by the whip or mouth, can be 
made to conceal grave defects. Let him move with a 
loose rein, so that he may take his natural gait, and not 
his artificial y for, by so doing, you will detect any mis- 
takes of judgment that you may have made when look- 
ing him over in a state of inactivity. Many a time 
unsoundness will appear in motion^ which no inspection 
of the eye and finger, however close, can ascertain. 
When you have walked him and jogged him, if he is to 
serve any other than mere draught-purposes, put him to 
his speed, and keep him at it for a sufficient distance 
to test his breathing capacity : then pull him up ; jump 
from the wagon, and look at his flanks ; inspect his 
nostrils ; and put your ear close to the side of his chest, 
in order to ascertain if the action of the heart is 
normal. If this exercise has caused him to perspire 
freely, all the better ; for you can then see, when you 



68 THE PEKFECT HOKSE. 

have returned to the stable, whether he "dries ojQF 
quickly," which a horse of sound constitution does 
when in perfect health. Watch him also carefully 
when he is being taken from the stall, and while the 
harness is being put upon him: you will in this way 
ascertain his temper, and detect any thing that may 
be undesirable about him. 

Above all, in dealing, deal, as far as possible, only 
with honorable men. Act so as to live above the hint 
or suspicion of dishonesty yourself. No gentleman will 
have anything to do with a mere jockey ; and the worst 
reputation that a breeder can get is one for cunning 
and trickery. Such a breeder will find it hard work to 
sell his colts. Everybody suspects him. He may have 
a fine young horse ; but his evil reputation makes men 
shun him, because they fear they shall get cheated if 
they buy of him. In no business does honesty pay 
more surely, or larger dividends, than in the horse- 
business ; and the reason is, because gentlemen who pay 
liberally for young horses are very often distrustful of 
their own ability to judge as to the merits of a horse, 
and so, naturally, desire to purchase of men whose word 
they can depend upon. No breeder or horse-dealer in 
regular business can afibrd to cheat, even if he has no 
conscience to restrain him from so doing. Raise good 
colts, and keep a good character, and you will make 
money by breeding. 

I cannot resist the inclination to put on record in 
this place and manner my strong protest against the 



HOW TO KNOW HIM# 69 

conduct of certain people, who, by slurs and innuendoes 
and misrepresentations, seek to bring into popular 
disgrace the most delightful and elevating branch of 
American agriculture, — the breeding and training of 
fine horses. Such behavior is both disgraceful to them- 
selves, and, so far as it has any influence upon the 
public, hurtful to the best interests of the country. As 
a branch of business, it represents an enormous amount 
of capital, as the national statistics show, — of capital, 
too, contributing actively, year by year, to the commer- 
cial prosperity of the land, and also largely and directly 
to the health and happiness of its inhabitants. From 
the settlement of the country, the horse has been 
intimately and honorably associated with our social and 
religious life, as he has also most potentially contributed 
to the development of its trade and commerce. With- 
out the assistance of the noble animal these thoughtless 
people persist in associating with gamblers and jockeys, 
our religious congregations could never have been as- 
sembled sabbath by sabbath in the churches, nor our 
political gatherings held, nor, as we all realize in view 
of the revelation of the last winter, during the epizootic 
season, could our business enterprises have been carried 
out. Why an animal so noble by nature, and useful to 
us all, should be singled out for reprobation, or to en- 
gage in his propagation and training be stigmatized as a 
low and vulgar pursuit, passes my comprehension. For 
one, I acknowledge a debt of gratitude to those, who 
by importation of blooded animals, or careful attention 



70 OJHE PERFECT HOESE. 

to the principles of breeding, have contributed to the 
improvement of the American horse. The world is 
' happier and better conditioned to-day because Lafosse, 
Rarey, Hiram Woodruff, and men of their intelligence 
and character, lived. And not alone to these great 
masters, who revealed to us the true method of shoe- 
ing, training, and driving horses, are we indebted, but to 
all of lesser note who in any sensible measure assisted 
in the improvement of the animal himself, or of man's 
knowledge of his wants, and his capacity to serve 
the human race. If it be a disgrace to teach men 
useful knowledge; to add to the intelligence and 
humane impulse of the country in respect to the 
humblest of God's creatures; to show those of small 
fortunes how to increase their limited means, and hence 
to improve their own condition, and swell the aggregate 
prosperity of the country ; to fire with a worthy am- 
bition the young agriculturist to produce better stock 
than his father bred before him, — if this, I say, be a 
disgrace, then I rejoice to share it with those, who, in 
every State of the Union, are laboring to accomplish the 
same noble end, — men whose public spirit I admire, and 
the integrity of whose characters I hoj^e to equal, but 
may never expect to excel. I love, with an attachment 
which increases with the passage of 3^ears, my native 
soil ; and hold that its cultivation, and employment in 
those pursuits connected with it, is most conducive to 
the practice of those virtues which ennoble man,' and 
minister to his happiness. I love the earnest, honorable 



HOW TO KNOW HEVI. 71 

industries of the field, and the stimulating companion- 
ship of the spirited denizens of the stable. The strong, 
healthy odor of the earth, the scented hedges, the 
tremulous happiness of harvest-heads, the welcoming 
neigh of glossy favorites greeting my coming steps with 
the pride of their arched necks and expectant eyes, — 
all this is a delight. Hail to this life of innocent and 
humane sovereignty, in which care sets with the setting 
of the sun, and gentle night brings gentler repose ! I 
cherish the ambition, that, in some limited measure, I 
may contribute something to the intelligence of those 
of my generation who share this feeling with me, by 
which they shall more perfectly understand the prin- 
ciples that underlie success in those pursuits, which, 
while they minister to the truest pleasures of life, 
supply, at the same time, the needed support and profit. 
Enough for me, if, when that crowded hfe which lives 
in cities, and to which I am now a teacher, shall have 
forgotten me, — as it surely will forget, — I may still 
be remembered in the scattered hamlets of the country, 
and be occasionally mentioned by the farmer's fireside, 
as having been a friend of the farmer, and .of the 
farmer's best friend, — the gentle, serviceable animal, — 
the horse. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. — REASONS WHY BREED- 
ERS HAVE NOT BEEN FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL. 

No one who is at all acquainted with the history of 
breeding in New England and the country at large — at 
least, so far as trotting-horses are concerned — can deny 
that much money has been lost, and many failures made, 
by those who have embarked their property in the 
enterprise. 

The fast horses of the country seem to be rather the 
result of accident or good fortune than of design. In 
other business, men invest one or five thousand dollars 
with the reasonable certainty that they will receive 
their money back again, together with a profitable rate 
of interest. This is what is called doing a safe busi- 
ness ; and it is this certainty of return that renders the 
business legitimate. By as much as the result is uncer- 
tain, accidental, the business loses in dignity, ceases to 
be attractive to a well-constructed intellect, and be- 
comes a species of gambling. Now, breeding of fast 
horses has been a business, up to within a few years, and 

72 



PEINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 73 

even now, in tlie majority of cases, is a pursuit, notori- 
ously tainted with this fatal element of uncertainty. 
The history of almost every breeder is a history of ex- 
travagant hopes and bitter disappointments. His Avhole 
career has been one of struggle, delusive successes, and 
total failures. If now and then he has made a "hit" 
as the saying is, if occasionally he has produced a fast 
colt, the very success served only, in the way of con- 
trast, to make his failures all the more noticeable. The 
great trotting-horses of the country have not been 
foaled, in the proportion that one might reasonably ex- 
pect, in the great stables of the country : they have 
come, rather, before the public from obscure sources. 
In many cases, as with Dutchman and Flora Temple 
and Ripton, no one can tell up to this day any thing of 
the sire or the dam. The fact that three such horses, 
and scores of others of almost equal merit, have no 
known parentage, reveals how rude and unsuccessful 
the breeding efforts of the country have been. Who 
can conceive of three winners of the Derby with no 
known pedigree ? Who can imagine a horse arising 
in England, who should win all the principal prizes, 
and remain king of the English turf for six or ten 
years, and no Englishman be able to tell the stable 
in which he was born, the dam that foaled him, or 
the horse which was his sire ? Such a thing would be 
impossible : for there the principles of breeding are 
understood ; the result that shall come from the union 
of two strains of blood can be predicted ; and successes 



74 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

are in the line of sequence, and not of accident. But 
here we have had few, if any, impartial and intelligent 
students of the problem. The most intricate and deli- 
cate of all endeavors to propagate great excellences by 
the harmonious union of desirable qualities, possessed 
in part by the sire and in part by the dam, has been, 
for the most part, undertaken by men too ignorant or 
prejudiced to grasp comprehensively the rudimental 
principles of success. Hence it is that breeding in 
America has been an innocent kind of gambling ; that 
is, a venture in which good luck, rather than an under- 
standing of and attention to the business, was rehed 
on for success. Hence many of our fastest horses are 
sent to us annually from the barn-yards of unknown, 
and, so far as principles of breeding go, ignorant farm- 
ers. We find them — as Dutchman was found, in a tan- 
dem-team, drawing bricks ; or behind a drover's wagon, 
as Flora Temple was discovered — without name or 
fame. They come unheralded by any expectation, the 
result of no plan, no knowledge, no wisely-invested cap- 
ital. This seems an indisputable proposition, therefore, 
— that one of the causes of the financial failures which 
have attended attempts at breeding is to be found in 
the gross ignorance of the breeders themselves in the 
principles of propagation. This is the more to be won- 
dered at, because, in all kindred branches, knowledge is 
universally admitted to be the great essential of success. 
No one, for instance, will invest money in trout-culture 
until he has examined into the principles which under- 



PEINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 75 

lie tlieir propagation. He becomes a student of trout ; 
studies tlieir structure and habits, tlieir favorite diet, 
and the treatment which is most favorable to their rapid 
increase and growth. All this is preliminary to the 
grand undertaking. He invests no money, he makes 
not a move, until the knowledge of the business neces- 
sary to the proper understanding of it is obtained. So 
is it in the c(jLse of fowl, sheep, and the like. Knowl- 
edge first, investment of money next, is the rule and 
order. It is just this rule and order that men seem to 
reverse in their attempts at breeding the horse. With 
no knowledge of what is needed in the sire or the dam ; 
with no power to discriminate the qualities of either ; 
with no ability to say that these qualities^ are such as to 
warrant harmonious union of all that is most desirable 
in either parent, — in the foal, or the reverse, — they 
breed, not along the line of certain well-ascertained 
principles or clearly-discerned similitudes, but haphaz- 
ardly, as chance furnishes the opportunity, trusting to 
luck to produce a fast colt. 

The grossness of this blunder can only be appre- 
hended and realized when you consider that the breed- 
ing of fast horses is not only a business, but a business 
the principles of success in which are most delicate 
and hidden. The man who engages in it not only 
undertakes to deal with the outward and material, but 
more yet with the inward and the spiritual. The 
problem is the propagation of a high order of life ; and 
not only its propagation, but its propagation in such a 



76. THE PERFECT HOESE. 

form and spirit, that its expression shall be marked with 
certain specific characteristics. 

The breeder must be, in the most thorough and ele- 
vated sense of the word, a student. His capital is his 
power to observe and infer. From what is seen, he 
reasons to what is unseen ; from that which is, to that 
which shall be. His study is the study of nervous 
forces, — their origin, and law of descent-; of muscular 
power, — its source, how accumulated, and how sustained. 
Nor is this all. He is a student of an organization of so 
high and fine a quality, that its condition, and states of 
temperament, are as variable as the wind. The horse is 
an animal of exquisite construction. In him we behold 
one of the finest results of creative skill. In nervous 
structure he is exceedingly sensitive. Sensitive and 
sympathetic, he suffers from those changes in condition 
and treatment to which other animals are indifferent. 
Even so slight causes as changes in his food and bed- 
ding, interruption and difference in grooming, ay, even 
the subtle changes of the atmosphere, affect him. Nor 
is it alone the horse before him that he must study. To 
know a man, you must know something of his ancestry. 
Man is not a simple, he is a complex, being. He is the 
result of many antedating causes. He is the embodi- 
ment of both harmonious and antagonistic forces. Five 
generations are represented in him. He is the child of 
ten parents; and each parent positively or negatively 
exists in him. So it is with the horse. He is the result 
of antedating causes. Sire, grandsire, and a long line 



WHY NOT FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL. 77 

of ancestry, — with all their peculiarities of spirit and 
structure, of like and unlike qualities, of elements harmo- 
nious and antagonistic, — are represented in him. To 
study him is to study them. To know him is to know 
them. You must gauge the force that is not before 
you can gauge the force that is. History must assist 
observation, and reading be joined to sight. 

Is it extravagant, then, for me to ask, What higher 
study can there be than this, — this study into life mus- 
cular and nervous, mental and emotional ? What nobler 
subject than this, — the investigation of those laws by 
which life, in all its changes and gradations, is transmit- 
ted from sire to son ? What more difficult problem than 
this, the solution of which should reveal to us the 
forceful properties which repeat themselves in animal as 
well as human life, and which may, therefore, be re- 
garded as truly representative of that order of exist- 
ence with which we behold them associated ? And yet 
men have expected, without knowledge or study, or fa- 
cilities whereby to conduct the business advantageously, 
to make great fortunes out of breeding ; and people can 
be found all over New England and the country who 
will question the profitableness of breeding fine horses, 
on the ground that many of those who have attempted 
it have not been successful ; failing to see, or else pur- 
posely ignoring the fact, that the reason why these gen- 
tlemen have failed to achieve success in their efforts is 
because their efforts were not directed by a sufficient in- 
telligence in respect to the business they had undertaken. 



78 THE PEEFECT HOESE. 

Now, the writer firmly believes that breeding of 
handsome and fast trotting-horses in America is, and 
will continue to be, a most profitable business. He 
believes it will yield for the money invested a larger 
return by twenty per cent than any other branch of 
agriculture ; and he believes that this is especially true 
in the New-England States. The fact is, agriculture 
proper — by which I mean the tillage of the soil, and the 
production of those products that grow directly out of 
the soil — can no longer be relied upon to keep alive the 
.agricultural spirit, or sustain the agricultural wealth, of 
New England. We cannot compete successfully with 
the Middle States and the Great West in the raising of 
cereals, or, indeed, in the breeding of those animals 
whose market value can never rise beyond a certain 
moderate price, and to fit which for the market the 
products of their great wheat and corn fields are ser- 
viceable. Hence it comes about, that in swine and 
beeves, and the lower-price horses. New England can 
never compete with Ohio and Illinois, Wisconsin and 
Texas. When horses of good serviceable quality for 
family and team use can be shipped from Michigan to 
Boston, and sold in our sale stables at a hundred and 
seventy -five dollars per head, no Massachusetts breeder 
can afford to raise colts of ordinary quality. So long 
as the cost of transporting a horse fi^om the West to 
the seaboard is less than the difference of the cost of 
supporting him from the time he is foaled to the time 
he is ready for the market. New England cannot afford 



"WHY NOT FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL. 79 

to breed low-priced animals. It is, therefore, only in 
raising such animals as are of fine quality that we of 
the Eastern States can find our reward. Here it is that 
we see another reason why breeders have been unsuc- 
cessful in their investments. They have bred on the 
level of too low an average to make it pay. The prin- 
ciple on which they acted, that low-priced stallions and 
dams could produce high-priced colts, is a false one. 

I wish the reader to observe, then, that, while I main- 
tain that breeding can be made in New England to yield 
a liberal return for the money invested, it cannot be 
made to do this save when it is conducted with knowl- 
edge and understanding of those principles which insure 
success. In brief, it is like any other business : it can be 
conducted successfully only by those who understand it. 

The first thing, in order to do any thing, is to learn 
lioiv to do it. 



CHAPTER HI. 

BREEDING. — HOW TO SUCCEED, 

In the preceding chapter we discussed the subject of 
breeding from a philosophical standpoint. We called 
the reader's attention to the fact that the successful 
breeding of any class of animals demands, on the part 
of the one who attempts it, a most thorough knowledge 
of the structure, temperament, and habits of those ani- 
mals whose species he would propagate. We reminded 
him that the horse belongs to an order of animals of 
high organization, both nervous and muscular, — so high 
as to be easily marked by those from which he descend- 
ed ; and that, in order to breed fine horses successfully, 
he must become a student of one of the most intricate 
and difficult problems in natural history. 

We now propose to point out some of the more pal- 
pable means of success in detail. 

At the risk of reiteration, we would say to every 
young man in New England who is proposing in his 
own mind to raise a certain number of colts. Put your- 
self in the way of learning something of the busmess 

80 



BREEDING. — HOW TO SUCCEED. 81 

upon which you are to enter. To your own observa- 
tion add the observation of other men. Re-enforce 
your own knowledge with the wisdom of those who 
have grown gray in the business. Above all, become a 
student of the horse. Obtain such books as you need to 
inform your mind of the history, habits, and peculiarities 
of the animal you admire. Make yourself familiar with 
the history of the noted horses of your own country, 
and also of other lands. Make yourself acquainted also 
with their shape, size, peculiarity of going, character of 
their temperament, and the ancestry from which they 
sprang. Study pedigrees, that you may know by the 
union of what bloods, and the intermarriage of what 
families, great results have been obtained. Study the 
horse, not only with the e?/e, but with the Tiand and fin- 
ger. Make yourself familiar with every joint and bone 
and tendon. Know the horse in his skeleton, until you 
know the place of every bone, muscle, and member of 
his frame. No one ever knows a horse by merely look- 
ing at him : he must look through him as well. Learn 
to distinguish the weak points and good points of a 
horse at sight as an artist distinguishes a mere daub 
from a finished picture at a glance. If you intend to 
make breeding a business, it is a good plan to engage 
yourself to some practical breeder, and remain with him 
until you have mastered the minutice of the business, and 
become familiar with the hundred and one points of 
interest that can be learned only by actual service on a 
brood-farm. The reader will see, that, while I demand 



82 THE PEEFECT HORSE. 

no more than is universally admitted to be the condi- 
tion of success in other branches of business, I do de- 
mand this ; and I lay it down as a law, which executes 
its own penalty when transgressed, that he who breeds 
a horse while ignorant of the correct principles of breed- 
ing will breed a failure. If he ever make a success, it 
will be based on no broader and surer foundation than 
mere luck. 

The second point, in the way of suggestion, that I 
make, is this : Whoever wishes to raise a fine colt must 
be willing to put himself to a certain amount of trouble 
and expense. There is an old saying, " that the gods 
never drop nuts already cracked into men's mouths; " 
and it is the law which runs through the world, and puts 
its equal pressure upon all, that the effort put forth 
shall exactly gauge the degree ^f success. 

Now, the country is full of men who are ambitious to 
raise a five-hundred-dollar colt, but Avho are at the same 
time unwilling to be at any considerable trouble or ex- 
pense to do it. They wish the five-hundred-dollar colt ; 
but they wish to get it in such a way, that it shall not 
cost them over fifty or seventy -five dollars: in other 
words, they desire some three or four hundred per cent 
return for the money invested. It is needless for me to 
say that such an expectation is futile. In the very 
nature of things, it can never be realized. The law of 
cause and effect is against it. It is not difficult for an 
intelligent breeder to raise a five-hundred-dollar colt ; it 
is not extravagant for such a person to expect to raise a 



BREEDING. — HOW TO SUCCEED. 83 

colt, which, at five yccars of age, shall command a thou- 
sand dollars for every year of his age : but it costs time, 
attention, and considerable money, to insure such a re- 
sult. An ordinary dam will not produce such a colt. 
An ordinary stallion will not beget such an animal. To 
raise a handsome and fast-moving colt, you must have 
handsome and fast-moving parents to bring him forth, 
and favorable conditions of birth and culture such as 
money and intelligence can alone provide. Like pro- 
duces like ; and a fine-blooded colt must have fine-blood- 
ed parentage. This is a law ; and no 'one can escape its 
application. Stallions whose service can be obtained 
for ten or twenty dollars, and mares of low blood and 
negative characters, can never beget or conceive such a 
foal. If you are willing to pay for a mare, and for the 
service of a stallion, of the needed character, and then 
are willing to bestow upon the dam, before and after the 
foal is cast, the proper management, your expectation 
can be realized ; otherwise not. Luck has nothing to do 
with breeding. Knowledge, and a wise use of means, 
can alone secure you what you desire. You can ignore 
this rule, and fail ; you can comply with it, and succeed. 
The election rests with yourself 

I will now proceed to suggest certain facts, and items 
of information, of a character to assist the breeder in 
his enterprise. I say, suggest • for no statement which I 
may make is supposed to be able to take the place of 
thought on the part of the breeder. You must use your 
own mind, reader, say what I or any one may. My 



84 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

object, then, is to help you think, to stimulate you to 
thoughtfulness, to make you a student of the question 
yourself, rather than impose upon you certain deduc- 
tions I may have made, and insist upon your accepting 
them as the ultimate truth. Indeed, there is much of 
mystery hanging around this matter of procreation. 
What is this power which shapes things yet to be ? 
What is it that dictates structure, temperament, destiny, 
causing the initial germ to be prophetic of the per- 
fected result ? It is difficult to answer, I know of no 
one who has answered these questions ; nor do I expect 
to solve the problem : I only make my contribution to- 
ward the fuller discussion of the subject. I sim|)ly 
propose to lay before the reader the conclusions which 
my mind, in examination of the subject, has already 
reached, with the reasons therefor. 

In addition to knowledge, certain means and facilities 
are needed in order to make breeding a success. Some 
money, and more care, must be spent in the enterprise. 
The stall in which the brood-mare is kept should be dry 
and roomy. A damp stall, where the mare stands and 
sleeps on a manure-heap pervaded with the odor of 
ammonia and decaying substances, is totally unfit, as any 
sensible man can see, for an animal so sensitively organ- 
ized, and in such a delicate condition. The brood-mare 
should have a good-sized stall in which to stand during 
her pregnancy, and be well and warmly bedded, and in 
every way well treated. Not only humane impulse, but 
pure selfishness, prompts the owner to this. In a narrow 



BREEDING. — HOW TO SUCCEED. 85 

stall, ill kept, the mare is liable to get " cast," and, in 
her struggles, so displace the foal from its natural posi- 
tion, that, when the time of foaling comes, the colt can 
be delivered only with the greatest effort and pain, if 
indeed it can be at all. Many brood-mares are annually 
lost from this cause alone. The worst accident that 
can happen to a brood-mare when in foal is this getting 
" cast " in her stall. It should be most carefully 
guarded against. Especially tie luitli a short halter. 
The man who "ties long," as grooms say, warn once; 
and, if he does not heed your warning, discharge. Have 
no mercy on him : such carelessness is too gross and 
fearful in its consequences, often, to be tolerated in the 
management of valuable horses. I came near losing 
one of my finest brood-mares, a thorough-bred from the 
South, from this vicious method of tying in the stall. 
The groom left the halter so long, that, when she started 
to get up, she reached one of her fore-legs over the 
rope ; and there she was ! In her struggles, the rope cut 
into the fore-arm, tearing the hide and flesh away from 
the muscles, and causing a most ugly wound. Good 
treatment and a sound constitution in a state of entire 
healthfulness brought her out of the peril in safety; 
but that groom never " ties long " now ! 

Near the time of foaling, — say two or three weeks 
previous, — the dam should be put into a " breeding- 
box " or " foaling-stall." This should be some twelve by 
twenty feet in size, well strewn with tan-bark, saw-dust 
(dry), gravel, or sand ; indeed, with any thing that will 



86 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

make a soft, warm bottom. Over this the straw-bedding 
should be strewn a foot deep at least. If the mare is 
inclined to eat her bedding, put a muzzle on her (an 
ordinary wire or splint ox-basket will answer) ; for 
it is not wise to have the mare fill her stomach with 
coarse feed at this time. The floor should be level, 
and "banked up" a little round the sides and in the 
corners, lest in rolling, or perhaps in the act of foaling 
itself, the mare should get over upon her back, or 
doubled up in a corner in such a way as to embarrass 
her. Too much care cannot be exercised by the 
breeder at this juncture ; for it is the time when every 
thing may be lost by inattention and neglect. And I 
put it down among the necessities of a breeder's outfit, 
that he construct a good foaling-hox for the mare, and 
attend to the matter essentially as I have suggested. 
Such a box is not necessarily expensive. I have seen 
those that cost five hundred dollars, and others that did 
not exceed fifteen ; and, for all practical purposes, the 
one was as good as the other. The conditions I suggest 
are not those essential for ornament, but for safety. 

Another matter of prime importance to a breeder is 
this : How far is he from a good stock-horse ? Trans- 
portation costs : it is also perilous. When the writer 
began to breed, he was compelled to transport his brood- 
mares two hundred miles to be covered. He has seen 
half his stable of choice animals go rushing along through 
the darkness and fog in a miserable old freight-car, at 
the rate of thirty miles an hour ; and the sensation he 



BEEEDING. — HOW TO SUCCEED. 87 

experienced was not an agreeable one. A man dislikes 
to see his property treated in that way, especially if it is 
property selected with care and at large expense, and of 
a character not easily to be duplicated. The expense, 
also, is considerable, and eats into the profits disastrously. 
I presume my first three colts cost me, when weaned, 
four hundred dollars each. Even at that price, it paid ; 
but it lessened the per cent of profit decidedly. Among 
the conditions of success in breeding, therefore, I 
place this as a» prime one, — local nearness, and easy 
access to a desirable stock-horse. The cost of his 
service is of less account, because this is generally 
settled by the reputation of himself and his get ; and 
so the breeder shares in the profit of his fame Avith the 
owner. But the distance of his stable from yours, 
which includes transportation, with its attendant cost 
and risks ; the interruption it brings to your business, 
&c., — these must be carefully considered by the 
breeder, or he will find that his profit is gone before the 
colt is foaled. A distance that he can drive in two days 
is of no great moment ; but farther than this I should 
advise no breeder who is breeding on business-principles, 
for financial profit, to go. To attempt to breed from a 
stock-horse at a great distance from your stables, is, so 
far as my experience and observation go, unwise, and 
likely to result in loss. 

Above all, it is folly to breed inferior stock. Nothing 
is to be made from it, as mountains of testimony prove. 
" The best or none " should be the motto of the Eastern 
breeder. 



88 THE PERFECT HOUSE. 

There are other conditions of success to be enumerated ; 
but, as they relate more to the knowledge derived from 
the study of the horse himself than in the surroundings 
and appointments of the establishment, they more natu- 
rally fall into another division of this work ; to which we 
now invite the reader's attention. Let us now consider 
the principles that underlie successful propagation of the 
horse, and the elements needed in either parent. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SIRE. 



There are certain general views touching the influ- 
ence of the sire on his stock, which every one who 
is intending to breed should be aware of. There are 
certain cautions which it behooves every writer, who 
attempts to give people instruction in the business of 
breeding, to give frankly to his readers. I propose, 
therefore, in this division of the work, to enter into a full 
discussion of the matter, and give my ideas at length 
concerning the influence of the sire on his stock. In- 
deed, as I have already sketched the outlines of a per- 
fect horse, and described the diflerent points and char- 
acteristics which must distinguish such an animal, I 
now propose to sketch a perfect stock-horse, and there- 
by supply my readers with a standard in breeding, as I 
have already done in purchasing. In short, having 
described a perfect horse, I will now describe the way 
in which he can be propagated. 

The first, and to my mind the most essential fact to be 
borne in mind by a breeder is, that the propagating 

89 



90 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

principle or capacity does not inhere in all stallions 
alike. It does not follow that a stallion, however per- 
fect he may be both in conformation and temperament, 
will make a good stock-horse, or prove a source of 
profit to those who patronize him. It is at this point 
that so many blunders are made, and from which so 
many failures result. At this point two roads diverge, 
one of which leads to success, the other to certain disas- 
ter. How essential, then, that a warning and directing 
hand should be set up at this point, seeing which no 
breeder can be uncertain which path to take ! The 
fact is this, that in addition to temperament and per- 
fection of structure, over and above desu'ableness of 
nervous and muscular organization, there does exist 
in certain horses the power to propagate their most 
perfect points and characteristics, which other horses, 
equally perfect in themselves, perhaps do not have. 
What this power is, or ivliere it is, or how the horse 
comes by it, no one can tell. It cannot be mq:)lied: 
nothing short of an actual demonstration can prove 
that it exists. It is this which makes a stallion wor- 
thy to be kept as a stock-horse ; and notliing else 
can. No matter how beautiful, nor how sound, nor 
how speedy, nor how well connected in pedigree, a 
colt may be : he should never be advertised to the 
breeding public, until, by actual service with his own 
brood-mares, his owner is made aware of his capacity 
to reproduce his own excellences in his get. I main- 
tain that any other course includes a fraud upon the 



THE SIEE. 91 

public, in that he advertises as certain what he knows, 
or should know, is extremehj uncertain ; for this rejjro- 
ducing capacity is withheld by some strange freak or 
unascertained reason of nature from most horses, and 
bestowed only upon the few. Out of a hundred stallions 
in a State, only two or three ever become justly famous. 
The strangest and most unaccountable thing of the 
whole matter is, that many horses for which the best 
judges vfould surely predict success, prove, upon trial, 
lamentable failures; while others less esteemed become 
heads of families, and live Avith increasing honor with 
the birth of every generation of their descendants. It 
is not from the winners of the St. Leger and the Derby 
that England has received her fastest stock. These 
winners, in cases numberless, were out of the loins of 
horses by no means noted, but which gave to their sons 
and daughters that which made both parent and chil- 
dren immortal. Instances too numerous to mention 
might be quoted ; but the principle is too fully admitted 
to require argument and illustration. The fact stands 
admitted, that, until a stallion has been actually tested 
in the stud, it is useless to predict whether he will be 
valuable as a stock-horse or not, and folly for the gen- 
eral public to breed to him. 

Among the horses which excel in this peculiarity, at 
the very head of the list may perhaps be placed old 
Justin Morgan. The reproducing capacity of this 
horse, considering the treatment he received, was 
simply marvellous. Unappreciated and abused half of 



92 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

his life, it was the merest accident that his vahie as a 
stock-horse was discovered at all ; and even then he 
was bred indiscriminately to mares, unassisted by the 
least intelligence in the matter. Still, in spite of all 
obstacles which neglect and ignorance opposed, the 
reproductive faculty was so superlatively strong in him, 
that he founded a family truer to the original type, and 
more able to protect itself from the infringements of 
foreign blood, than any family of horses, perhaps, that 
the world has ever seen. Whatever men may say for 
or against the Morgan horse per se, none can deny that 
his blood was strong enough to dominate over every 
blood with which it was brought in contact. No 
matter to what mare he was bred, the offspring was 
invariably a Morgan colt. In outward conformation of 
structure, in color, in temperament, in style of action, 
and even habits of the stable, the foal grew up to look 
and act like the sire. Not only was this reproductive 
faculty strong in the old horse, but he transmitted it to 
his sons • which is the highest form of all excellence in 
a stock-horse. Nor did this power die out in one or 
two generations, but continued on like a stream having 
a constant source; and might have been prolonged, 
doubtless, unto this day, had not the State which had 
been enriched and made famous by this animal and his 
descendants committed financial suicide by allowing 
the family to be scattered, and the family type itself 
bought away from it. Not alone Vermont, but the en- 
tire country were losers when the Morgan family ceased 



THE SIEE. 93 

to have " a local habitation,*' although it could never 
cease tb have "a name." In proof of the perpetuation 
and continuity of this reproductive faculty in the Mor- 
gan family, even in our time, might be mentioned Ethan 
Allen, sired by Black Hawk ; and Taggart's Abdallah, 
whose grandsire was the famous Gilford Morgan, — per- 
haps the most beautiful horse ever ridden at a military 
parade. Of the speed of these two famous stallions — 
the former of which has trotted a mile faster than any 
horse that has ever lived, and the latter of which is, 
in our opinion, the highest type of a stock-horse in 
the country — we shall speak more fully hereafter. 
Enough at this point to say that they are lineal 
descendants from the original Morgan, and illustrate 
the assertion which we made above. As a further illus- 
tration of this principle, if any were needed, running all 
through the Morgan family, especially in case of the 
male colts, I might mention Old Morrill, gi-andsire of 
Draco, Mountain Maid, Hiram Woodruff, and the justly 
celebrated Fearnaught. Here is another descendant 
by a direct line from Justin Morgan, marked strongly 
with the family type ; marking his colts with the same 
type, fighting bravely, and maintaining himself against 
the incoming of foreign elements, — elements too, be 
it said, of the most potent character. Look at the 
pedigree of Old Morrill as exhibited in Table V. of 
the Supplement, and observe how the Morgan blood 
has to contend for the possession of the channel against 
three currents that find their source in imported Dio- 



94 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

med, and three other streams that come pourmg in 
like a torrent from imported Messenger ; and yet the 
Morgan blood is royal enough to contend at odds 
against royalty, and takes the six streams of imported 
blood, mingles it with itself, and rolls along as calmly 
and as true to itself as before. I trust I am not opin- 
ionated; but I would ask. What other horse, imported 
or home-bred, has ever founded a family able to per- 
petuate its characteristics, and defend itself against the 
intrusion of foreign blood, as has the Morgan? Where 
is the imported Messenger type invariably true to itself? 
Where is imported Diomed, as discerned in his descend- 
ants ? Where is imported Bashaw, out of whose trunk 
the Clay branches have all sprung ? Where is any 
horse, or family of horses, whose type of outward con- 
formation and temperament even have survived seventy 
years of outcrossing and admixture ? The horse and 
family do not live, I reply. The Morgan, and the 
Morgan alone, is worthy to stand upon the pedestal in 
answer to such an interrogation. Whatever else he 
lacked, neither he nor his descendants lacked or lack 
the power to reproduce themselves. It is for this 
reason that I give it as my deliberate opinion, that, 
other things being equal, the stallion with the largest 
amount of Morgan blood in his veins will prove the 
best stock-horse. It is undoubtedly to the presence 
of this blood in their veins that Fearnaught, Ethan 
Allen and his son Lambert, Taggart's Abdallah and his 
descendants, and the Morrills of Vermont, are able to mark 



THE SIEE. 95 

their offspring with their own characteristics. They 
are indebted, every one of them, to their old ancestor, 
Justin Morgan, for the possession of that rarest of all 
faculties in horses, — the power to reproduce their own 
excellences, — and which, derived from him, has won 
them fame, and their owners large incomes. We all 
live in debt to-day to an animal which so many horse- 
men underrate, if not despise, but which, in our 
opinion, gave to the country more handsome, docile, 
serviceable, and fast horses, than any animal America 
ever had. But, leaving this topic for subsequent dis- 
cussion, — and we propose to give the reasons for our 
emphatic assertion before we are done, — we lay it down 
as the first maxim of intelligent breeding, tliat a stock- 
horse is to he judged hij Ms stock rathe}' than hy himself 
and that the stallion that gets the best colts is the hest one 
to ijatronize. 

But what is it that the sire gives to his descendants ? 
and how far, and in what, as compared to the dam, 
does he dominate over his offspring ? This, perhaps, 
should be the next point for us to consider. We will 
proceed to do so ; premising, at the start, that the 
answer will not, in all points, be full or satisflictory. 
Indeed, the processes ot Nature are often hidden, and 
the springs of her influence concealed ; nor can man by 
searching find them out. Especially is this true in this 
matter of the causation and reproduction of life. The 
mists and vapors which geologists tell us swathed the 
infant world in the creation period swathe all infant life 



96 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

to-day. It exists in unknown conditions and obscure 
relations before it is seen. How much the boy owes to 
the father, and how much to the mother, and how he 
came to owe the same, or more, to one than to the 
other, we do not know. How much nature is shaped 
in the germ, independent of condition and circum- 
stance, or how much, on the other hand, circumstance 
and condition affect the germ, who can say ? We can 
speculate; we can dogmatize: but, while the created 
mind is ignorant of the processes of its own creation, 
life, in its origin and pre-natal conditions, must remain 
largely a mystery. Before I express my own views, I 
will put before the reader the following principles of 
breeding, as published in " The Horse-Owner's Cyclopae- 
dia," page 99, and which have been highly indorsed by 
no less an authority than the late Mr. Herbert (" Frank 
Forester"). 

The author says, under the head of 

THEORY OF GENERATION, 

"1. The union of the sexes is, in all the higher ani- 
mals, necessary for reproduction ; the male and female 
each taking their respective share. 

" 2. The office of the male is to secrete the semen 
in the testes^ and emit it into the uterus of the female, 
in or near which organ it comes in contact with 
the ovum of the female, which remains sterile with- 
out it. 

" 3. The female forms the ovum in the ovary; and at 



THE SIRE. 97 

regular times, varying in different animals, this descends 
into the uterus, for the purpose of fructification, on re- 
ceiving the stimulus and addition of the sperm-cell of 
the semen. 

" 4. The semex consists of two portions, — the sperma- 
tozoa, which have an automatic power of moving from 
place to place, by which quality it is believed that the 
semen is carried to the ovum; and the sperm-cells, 
which are intended to co-operate with the germ-cell of 
the ovum in forming the embryo. 

" 5. The ovum consists of the germ-cell — intended to 
form part of the embryo — and of the yolk, which 
nourishes both until the vessels of the mother take 
upon themselves the task ; or, in oviparous animals, till 
hatching takes place, and external food is to be obtained. 
The ovum is carried down by the contractile power of 
the Fallopian tubes from the ovary to the uterus ; and 
hence it does not require automatic particles like the 
semen. 

" 6. The embryo, or young animal, is the result of the 
contact of the semen with the ovum^ immediately after 
which the sperm-cell of the former is absorbed into the 
germ-cell of the latter. Upon this a tendency to in- 
crease or ' grow ' is established and supported at first 
by the nutriment contained in the yolk of the ovum, 
until the embryo has attached itself to the walls of the 
uterus, from which it afterwards absorbs its nourishment 
by the intervention of the placenta. 

"7. As THE MALE AND FEMALE Cacll fuTUisll their 
7 



98 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

quota to the formation of the embryo^ it is reasonable to 
expect that each shall he rejjresented in it j luhich is 
found to be the case in nature. But^ as the food of the 
embryo entirely depends upon the mother^ it may be 
expected that the health of the offspring.^ and its constitu- 
tional poiuers^ luill be more in accordance luith her state 
than tvith that of the father: yet^ since the sire furnishes 
one-half of the original germ., it is not surprising., that., 
ill external and general character., there is retained a 
FACSIMILE, to a certain extent^ of him. 

" 8. The ovum of mammalia differs from that of birds 
cliiefly in the greater size of the yolk of the latter, be- 
cause in them this body is intended to support the 
growth of the embryo from the time of the full forma- 
tion of the egg until the period of hatching. On the 
other hand, in mammalia the placenta conveys nourish- 
ment from the internal surface of the uterus to the em- 
bryo during the whole time which elapses between the 
entrance of the ovum into the uterus and its birth. 
This period embraces nearly the whole of the interval 
betAveen conception and birth, and is called utero-gesta- 
tion. 

"9. In all the mammalia there is a periodical 
'heat,' marked by certain discharges in the female, 
and sometimes by other remarkable symptoms in the 
male (as in the rutting of the deer). In the former it 
is accompanied, in all healthy subjects, by the descent 
of an ovum, or ova, into the uterus ; and in both there 
is a strong desire for sexual intercourse, which never 



i 



THE SIRE. 99 

takes place at other times in tliem (with the single 
exception of the genus Dimana). 

"10. The semen retains its fructifying power for some 
days if it is contained within the walls of the uterus or 
vagina, but soon ceases to be fruitful if kept in any 
other vessel. Hence, although the latter part of the 
time of heat is the best for the union of the sexes, be- 
cause then the ovum is ready for the contact with the 
semen, yet, if the semen reaches the uterus first, it will 
still cause a fruitful impregnation, because it remains 
there (or in the Fallopian tubes) uninjured until the 
descent of the ovum. 

"11. The influence of the male upon the embryo is 
partly dependent upon the fact that he furnishes a por- 
tion of its substance in the shape of the sperm-cell, but 
also, in great measure, upon the effect exerted upon the 
nervous system of the mother by him. Hence the pre- 
ponderance of one or other of the parents will, in great 
measure, depend upon the greater or less strength of 
nervous system in each. No general law is known by 
which this can be measured ; nor is any thing known of 
the laws which regulate the temperament, bodily or 
mental power, color or conformation, of the resulting 
offspring. 

"12. Acquired qualities are transmitted, whether 
they belong to the sire or dam ; and also both bodily 
and mental. As bad qualities are quite as easily trans- 
mitted as good ones, if not more so, it is necessary to 
take care, that, in selecting a male to improve the stock. 



100 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

he. is free from bad points, as well as furnished with 
good ones. It is known by experience that the good 
or bad points of the progenitors of the sire or dam are 
almost as likely to appear again in the offspring as those 
of the immediate parents in whom they are dormant. 
Hence, in breeding, the rule is, that like produces like, 
or tlie likeness of some ancestoi\ 

"13. The purer or less mixed the breed, the more 
likely it is to be transmitted unaltered to the offspring. 
Hence, wdiichever parent is of the purest blood will be 
generally more represented in the offspring: but as the 
male is usually more carefully selected, and of purer 
blood, than the female, it generally follows that he ex- 
erts more influence than she does; the reverse being 
the case when she is of more unmixed blood than the 
sire. 

"14. Breeding 'in-and-in' is injurious to mankind, 
and has always been forbidden by the divine law, as 
well as by most human lawgivers. On the other hand, 
it prevails extensively in a state of nature with all gre- 
garious animals (such as the horse), among whom the 
strongest male retains his daughters and grand-daughters 
until deprived of his harem by younger and stronger 
rivals. Hence, in those of our domestic animals which 
are naturally gregarious, it is reasonable to conclude 
that breeding ' in-and-in ' is not prejudicial, because it 
is in conformity with their natural instincts, if not car- 
ried farther by art than Nature teaches by her example. 
Now, in nature, we find about two consecutive crosses 



THE SIRE. 101 

of the same blood is the usual extent to which it is car- 
ried, as the life of the animal is the limit ; and it is a 
remarkable fact, that, in practice, a conclusion has been 
arrived at which exactly coincides with these natural 
laws. ' Once in and once out ' is the rule for breeding: 
given by Mr. Smith in his work on the breeding for the 
turf; but twice in will be found to be more in accord- 
ance with the practice of our most successful (early) 
breeders. 

■ "15. The INFLUENCE OF THE FIRST IMPREGNATION seems 
to extend to the subsequent ones : this has been proved 
by several experiments, and is especially marked in the 
equine genus. In the series of examples preserved in 
the Museum of the College of Surgeons, the markings 
of the male quagga, when united with the ordinary 
mare, are continued clearly for three generations beyond 
the one in which the quagga was the actual sire ; and 
they are so clear as to leave the question settled without 
a doubt. 

" IG. When some of the elements of which an indi- 
vidual sire is composed are in accordance with others 
making up those of the dam, they coalesce in such a 
kindred way as to make what is called 'a hit.' On the 
other hand, when they are too incongruous, an animal 
is the result wholly unfitted for the task he is intended 
to perform." 

The above rules, or " principles " as the author names 
them, appear to me to be in the main correct, and of 
great value to the student of the question ; but they do 



102 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

not supply that detailed knowledge required by the 
breeder, nor are they sustained by such testimony of 
fact and illustration as one might desire. 

The Arabs hold that the essential portions of the 
body, such as the bones, tendons, nerves, and veins, pro- 
ceed invariably from the sire; and it is undoubtedly 
true that the shape of the bones, and nervous dis- 
eases, and weaknesses of the bone-structure, are derived 
principally from that source. I would sooner breed, for 
instance, a diseased mare to a healthy stallion, than a 
healthy mare to a diseased stallion. 

Certain it is that from the sire the colt commonly 
derives his nervous vigor, and those moral qualities 
which serve to distinguish and ennoble the well-bred 
horse. The Arabs have this maxim, "A horse of noble 
race has no vices;" and also this, "The foal follows 
the sire." 

With this estimation I do not at all agree. The 
instances in which the foal does not follow the sire are 
too numerous for us to allow that the Arabian maxim is 
worthy of being regarded as a law. Even a casual 
inspection of my own stables, or the stables of any 
breeder, would cause a grave suspicion to arise in any 
thoughtful mind touching the Eastern adage. I have, 
for instance, in my stables, dams whose foals invariably 
resemble the sire in size, shape, color, style of going, and 
even in temperament ; and these mares are valued by 
me as almost beyond price, because of this peculiarity. 
/ know beforehand what I shall get On the other hand, 



THE SIEE. 103 

I have two other mares whose colts invariably resemble 
themselves, or some one of their parental ancestors. So 
true is this, that I can calculate before the foal appears 
what he will not be, although I may not easily tell what 
he luill be. Such are the facts in my own stables ; and 
they harmonize perfectly with the results of observa- 
tion in many other breeding establishments. The law 
plainly suggested by inference from these facts is this, 
that the animal luith the strongest vitality marks the foal. 
If the dam be most highly organized, then the foal will 
resemble the dam ; if the sire, then the foal will resem- 
ble the sire. This is the law, as we all know, in the 
human family : if the mother be of nervous, sanguine 
temperament, and the father lymphatic and sluggish, 
the child will take after the mother ; if the conditions 
be reversed, the result will be the reverse. Exceptions 
there may be and are ; but the law stands firm, vindi- 
cating its truth with each successive generation. I am 
bound, nevertheless, to say that this law does not hold 
good in cases where we should naturally expect it 
would. To illustrate : According to the law, when a 
low-blooded mare is bred to a thorough-bred horse, the 
foal should resemble the sire ; but, alas ! too often he 
does not. On the other hand, according to the law, a 
blooded-mare bred to a low-blooded horse should bring 
forth a colt like herself ; but neither is this true. What, 
then, becomes of the law ? I confess that I do not 
know ; nor have I been able to find in the works of any 
author a satisfactory answer to the puzzle. Practically 



104 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

although I cannot philosophically account for my pref- 
erence, — yet ])racUcallij^ I say, we know that it is far 
better to have a high, fine organization in the sire, and 
let the low organization, if it must exist in either parent, 
be on the side of the dam. The fact is, both parents 
should be highly organized ; and any thing short of this 
introduces uncertainty as to what the result of the ex- 
periment will be. The only infallible rule — the best 
statement ever given touching the reproduction of any 
form of life — was published by God himself in his 
inspired word, when he said, "Let the earth bring 
forth the living creature after Ms kincV This, never- 
theless, must be observed, — that the power to bring 
forth after his kind — if hy his Mud we mean personal 
resemblances rather than generic attributes — does not 
belong to the horse as a race, but to the horse as an indi- 
vidual ; for, as we have already pointed out in the case 
of Justin Morgan, this faculty of reproducing excel- 
lences is individual, and not general. And so we 
come back to the same observation previously made in 
regard to what constituted a valuable stock-horse, — viz., 
that the best horse is he, who, being good in himself, 
most surely and closely reproduces himself in his ofF- 
gpring ; and to this formula should now be added the 
words, lohen hred to the mares of the greatest variety of 
form ayid temperament. Let us, then, turn our atten- 
tion to the consideration and enumeration of those 
attributes, which, being possessed, render a horse unfit 
for stock-purpo.^es, The first we have already meu- 
f 



THE SIKE. 105 

tioned, — the inability to reproduce theraselves. The 
second point to be observed is this, — avoid 

A LOW-BRED STALLIOX. 

This term "low-bred" is not a mere technical term, a 
creation of a ring of horsemen, but represents some- 
thing solid and tangible to the understanding. A low- 
bred horse is faulty in his bone-structure, vicious in his 
temper, sluggish in action, and lacking in those higher 
qualities — such as courage, docility, and beauty — 
which distinguish a well-bred horse. The term also 
describes his ancestry, and links a base result with 
base causes. I do not wish to be understood as saying 
that a thorough-bred stallion is invariably worthy of the 
stud ; for, as I have already pointed out, only now and 
then one is : but while the thorough-bred may be, or 
may not be, a low-bred brute never is. Beware of nothing 
so much as a low-bred stock-horse. His services cannot 
be offered so cheap, that they will not, in the end, prove 
dear ; because the colts from such a horse, when ready 
for the market, will bring less than they have cost the 
owner to raise them. No stallion without a good sound 
pedigree should ever be patronized. 

The law in respect to this matter is, that the foals will, 
in most cases, resemble the father, or some precedent 
ancestor ; in either of which cases the result w411 be 
equally unfortunate. It cannot be denied that the 
characteristics of ancestors do continue, ever and anon, 
to re-appear in their descendants : and hence, in breed- 



106 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

ing horses, pedigree — that is, the character not only of 
the parents, but also of grandparents and great-grand- 
parents — becomes worthy of close attention ; and when 
the pedigree of dam and sire both is known to be good, 
and they themselves are good, it is evident that little 
fear may be felt touching the character of the foal. 
For if he resembles his immediate parents, or if, skip- 
ping these, he appears stamped with the impress of some 
ancestor, the result must, in either case, be the same. 
This it is which gives to the pedigrees their value in the 
eye of the breeder. It guarantees him against total 
failure, to say the least; and insures a greater success 
than the quality of the immediate parents would per- 
haps make possible. But, if a horse without a pedigree 
should never be patronized, the breeder should bear in 
mind that a good pedigree does not make a good horse. 
I have known animals, with a pedigree as long as your 
arm, who were not worthy of the least attention. Find 
the horse first ; then examine the pedigree : and if they 
correspond, and mutually sustain each other, then pur- 
chase ; for you have met an animal greatly to be desired. 
Remember always, that none save the highest types of a 
family can be expected to reproduce the valuable char- 
acteristics of the family. Because a stallion was sired by 
Eysdyk's Hambletonian, it does not follow that he is 
worthy of being bought or kept for a stock-horse ; and 
yet, with many of our committees at agricultural fairs, 
the fact that a colt was sired by a Rysdyk's Hambletonian 
is enough to secure for him both attention and the prize. 



THE SIEE. 107 

VICIOUS STALLIONS. 

Especially I would urge all breeders to avoid vicious 
and irritable seed-horses. The idea that a stallion is 
less amiable than a gelding is both contrary to nature 
and observation, and, in common with many other 
erroneous opinions resulting from ignorance, confined 
to this country. An irritable temper and a vicious dis- 
position are hereditary — superlatively so — in horses as 
well as in men. I know families that have been noted 
for fretfulness and ugliness of spirit for generations. 
Viciousness seems to be the family mark : it comes down 
from sire to son in uninterrupted sequence. So it is 
with horses. A vicious sire begets a vicious colt. 
Exceptions there may be ; but the law holds good in the 
main. I have known a seed-horse at death leave the 
county where he stood full of ugly brutes : they were 
intractable, fretful, hard to teach ; they would rear, bite, 
and kick. You could never make them docile and 
kind: they were unpleasant and dangerous. Now, I 
hold that no one should breed to such a horse. No 
perfection of muscle and frame, no high-sounding 
pedigree, no marvellous record on the turf, would in- 
fluence me to put one of my mares to such a horse. I 
want no vicious colts in my stalls. None but an amia- 
ble, docile, kindly-disposed animal should be selected 
for service in the stud. This rule is of special impor- 
tance to the breeder, as it is directly related to the 
successful sale of his colts. Gentlemen do not wish to 



108 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

buy an uneasy, fretful, and fractious thing. It is uncer- 
tain and dangerous business to train and teach such an 
animal. There is too much risk about it. Nothing ad- 
vertises a family of colts so badly as viciousness, or 
that fickleness, or irritability of temper, bordering close 
upon it. Seeing that this matter is clearly within one's 
control, I hold that it is a high misdemeanor in a 
breeder to breed a vicious colt. He has no right to 
introduce a force into the world which man cannot 
easily and safely manage. 

But, if one has no right to breed to a vicious stallion, 
neither is it wise for him to breed to one when he is in 
an artificial state. I will explain this more fully. 
When life is propagated in the animal kingdom, the life 
produced is the product of the union of two lives, and 
takes its character from the character of the parental 
source. The foal is a representative of the sire and 
dam both, and of the sire and dam, not as they might 
have been, but as tlieij actually tuere at the time of 
its conception. Not alone the general health of the 
two parents is transmitted to the offspring, but the par- 
ticular habit and mood of life in which they then were. 
The nervous and temperamental states and conditions 
were transmitted also. Hence it comes about, that as, in 
the case of human species, the babe conceived in drunk- 
enness is apt to be idiotic, and in other respects imbecile ; 
so the foal conceived when the sire and dam, or either, 
were in an unnatural, excited, feverish state, will come 
into the world sensibly affected and weakened from 



THE SIRE. 109 

this cause. The influence of the nervous stcate on the 
offspring of the human fiimily is well understood ; and 
not alone of the nervous state, but of the state of the 
blood, the condition of the bones and muscles: these 
are regarded as potential in their influence on the life 
destined to be born. These things have not been con- 
sidered by breeders of the horse with the close atten- 
tion which they deserve ; but he who has observed how 
high the organization of the horse is will see that these 
influences must be duly regarded by one who seeks to 
breed the perfect horse. ' The law is, that the state of 
the parents is the state of the child. As the dam and 
sire are, so will the foal be. Fevered parents beget 
fevered children : this is the rule. Now, horses, when in 
training for the turf, or engaged in actual contests, are 
in a most artificial state: their nervous system, their 
blood and stomach, are in an unnatural condition ; they 
are strung up, excited, inflamed. How true this is 
may be seen from the fact, that, when they have passed 
through the grand prepcuxdion^ they often get sick if 
the race for any reason is deferred. They, as well as 
their trainer, know that a great occasion is to come off 
in Avhich they are to figure ; and they are uneasy and 
excited until the great feat has been done or attempted. 
Moreover, it should be remembered that training and 
track work take stuff out of a horse. The animal is able 
to do one great deed ; but this ability has been secured 
at the expense of a great constitutional disturbance. 
The normal, healthy course of nature has been inter- 



110 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

rupted, and made subordinate to another consideration. 
Now, all this, continued season after season, affects the 
animal most injuriously. 

He may not actually break down ; but the reserve 
force has been drained away, and his stamina impaired. 
Now, let a stallion thus superficially in the highest 
possible condition, but latently and in fact in an 
impaired condition, become a sire, and the foal will 
share, not the original constitutional characteristics of 
the horse, but those artificial peculiarities introduced 
by his public career and training therefor. Hence it 
comes about, that few horses of either sex noted for 
their public performances have ever become the parents 
of horses good as themselves. Hence it happens that 
the foals of these horses not only fall short of that 
degree of excellence which their ^^arents had, but are 
actually, and in many cases fatally, crippled in force, or 
made heirs of an evil inheritance. Ethan Allen, for in- 
stance, — a horse of superb bone-structure, and belong- 
ing to a family noted for constitutional vigor, — got a 
great many colts with feeble legs : he bred his high- 
fevered, artificial state into them. Many of his colts 
have been unpleasantly nervous and excitable; to drive 
which was a task and a risk, rather than a pleasure. The 
fact is, no stock-horse should ever be trained for a race, 
or gotten into abnormal state or condition of health or 
mood. He should be kept in a healthy, normal state, 
quiet, and with all his powers and faculties in even poise. 
The severe training to which colts intended to be kept 



THE SIKE. Ill 

for the stud are put between the ages of two and six 
years is one of the greatest obstacles in the way of 
breeding sound and perfect horses ; and the habit of 
stinting mares to such horses, on the part of breeders, 
is unmitigated folly. It is the surest way of commit- 
ting hari-kari in breeding that I know of My advice, 
therefore, is, Avoid stallions kept, or that have been 
kept, for the purposes of the turf, and put your mares to 
stallions of good pedigree which show good trotting- 
action, — able to trot, say, a mile in 2.40, — of amia- 
ble disposition, of undoubted constitutional vigor and 
soundness, and in a natural state. Such a horse will — 
if, in addition to these other qualities, he have the power 
to transmit them to his offspring — prove a good, safe, 
reliable stock-horse. His colts will be healthy, strong, 
and vigorous. They will have lasting legs and lungs, 
stomachs able to digest food without the help of "con- 
dition powders," and tempers fine, but reliable as a 
Damascus blade. Breed to such a horse, and you will 
have gone far, in so doing, along the road of success. 

Furthermore, suffer this caution : Never breed to a 
horse because he has a high-sounding, fashionable name, 
with a corresponding pedigree attached. It is as- 
tonishing how many Fearnaughts and Abdallahs and 
Morrills and Hambletonians there are. Perhaps the 
last-mentioned name is abused the most. All over 
New England and the country, you will find Hamble- 
tonian this and Hambletonian that advertised to the* 
breeding public, that are not worth, for stock-purposes, 



112 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

the bedding they stand on. Big-headed, big-legged, 
but-ended things, they point the satire on human cre- 
dulity that could be persuaded into breeding even a 
third-rate mare to them. The fact is, the Hambletonian 
family, great and worthy of patronage as it is, is 
worthy of patronage only in the case of its finest repre- 
sentatives. If Dexter had not been castrated, he would 
have been about my idea of a stock-horse in every thing 
but his temper ; and I am inclined to think that that was 
naturally excellent : but Dexter is the result of that 
one especial cross with a star-mare which Hambletonian 
"hit" well with. A son of the old horse with a star- 
mare, or indeed any thorough-bred mare, for its dam, is, 
generally speaking, a good horse : but it is a notorious 
fact that Old Hambletonian (Rysdyk's) does not cross 
well with the average run of mares ; neither do his sons. 
With the exercise of proper discrimination in respect to 
the dam, this family of horses does well ; if not, not. 
If this is true as regards the finest types of the family, 
what must be the chance in reference to the coarser 
specimens ? I reply, No chance at all ; and I look 
upon it as most unfortunate for the country, and sure to 
result in the disgrace of the family, — whose fame, prop- 
erly guarded, might endure indefinitely, — that so many 
of the third-rate colts of this horse's get are now being 
advertised for the stud. With a great many people it 
is enough that a horse is a son of Hambletonian ; failing 
to make the distinction, that it is better to breed to the 
most perfect specimen of a poor family than to the 



THE SIRE. 113 

inferior specimens of the best families. These people 
cannot be persuaded that a name does not make a 
horse. But they will find this out to their cost after a 
few years of silly experimenting in a direction in which 
experimenting has already been conducted to. a demon- 
stration. I would here reiterate the truism, that a pedi- 
gree does not make a horse ; and that a string of noble 
names is of no account in breeding, unless a noble 
animal stands at the end of it. Look at the horse 
before you pay any attention to his pedigree. A wise 
man may have a fool for a son ; and a great horse 
improperly crossed will often get a foal in no sense 
worthy of him. Those who expect, that, because a 
stallion happens to be half-brother to Dexter, he will 
necessarily get colts that will grow up to rival Dexter, 
represent in their mental structure a most unhappy 
cross themselves. The rule is, that the foal will re- 
semble the immediate parents ; the exception is, that 
he will resemble the remote ancestor : and those who 
breed to a poor specimen of a family, expecting that the 
colts will be like the founder of the family, and not like 
the immediate sire, are breeding in the face and eyes 
of this prime maxim. - Select a stock-horse who is great 
in himself and Ms ancestry^ and not noble only in his 
parentage, and you will be following the rule which the 
law of nature and the evidence of all observation 
indorse as correct and imperative. The moment that 
this law is apprehended and obeyed by the people, a 
great many stallions — great only in the greatness of 



114 THE PERFECT HOKSE. 

their sires — which are now being offered as stock- 
horses to the piibhc will go to the string-team or to the 
dogs, where they belong : and it makes no difference 
to which ; for they are absolutely worthless for the pur- 
poses of the stud. 

Concerning the proper age of service, authorities 
differ, and men disagree. Every one has a right to his 
own views ; but I am disposed to think, that, the ex- 
tremes of age and youth being avoided, no difference 
exists in the value of the get. Many are strongly 
prejudiced against breeding to young stallions before 
they have reached full maturity, and become "thoroughly 
seasoned," as they say ; but the facts show that some of 
the best horses ever foaled were sired by mere colts. 
As a matter of interest, and as a case in point, we give 
below the ages at which Hambletonian got his best 
foals : — 

Alexander's Abdallah was got when Hambletonian 
was two years old. Volunteer when he was four, 
Edward Everett when he was five, Dexter when he was 
eight, Bruno when he was eleven. Sentinel when he 
was twelve. Jay Gould when he was fourteen, Gazelle 
and Aberdeen when he was sixteen, and Startle when 
he was seventeen. 

Here are horses sired all the way from tivo years to 
seventeen ; and certainly none would say that the old 
horse ever got a better stallion-colt, or one that has 
reflected, in the main, more honor upon the sire, than 
Alexander's Abdallah. Aberdeen is a noble horse, but 



THE SIKE. 115 

no better than Volunteer : Jay Gould is remarkable ; but 
Edward Everett is equally noted. The dam of Ethan 
Allen, if my memory serves me, was twenty-four years 
old when she dropped him ; and yet I might mention 
others as famous after their kind as the little bay stal- 
lion, whose dams were fillies of three or four years. 
The prejudice, therefore, against breeding mares to 
young stallions, is not warranted by facts. No horse 
can reach maturity, perhaps, before he is eight or ten 
years of age ; and many horses have sired their grandest 
colts long before they came to that age. It is also 
known that many of the most talented men and women 
of the world were the first or last born of their parents ; 
and that in no respect are those born in middle age, 
when the physical and mental powers of the j^arents 
may be said to be in the state of high development, 
superior to the earlier or later born. Nor does it seem 
to injure in any way the colt to serve a reasonable 
number of mares, — in his second year, from five to ten ; 
in his third year, from ten to twenty ; in his fourth year, 
from twenty to thirty : this I hold to be well within 
the line of safety. A colt well put together, and fed 
and exercised judiciously, would not, in my opinion, be 
injured by such service, but rather imj^roved. At this 
time of life he is manageable, and can be educated to 
cover the mare properly, and in gentleness of fervent 
but controlled desire, and not in the frenzy of wild and 
savage license. The proper education of a high-bred 
stallion-colt for the purposes of the stud is the duty, as 



116 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

it should be the ambition, of every owner. A fractious, 
lawless, violent horse is a disgrace to the head groom 
and the stable. A horse that cannot be controlled by a 
word is not fit to serve a mare. The squealing, plun-' 
ging, savage sort are unfit for public service, and should 
be avoided by the breeder. In addition to the fact that 
they endanger the health and life of the mare, they also 
impress her unfavorably ; and these parental impressions 
have, as I hold, much to do with the life and character 
of the foal. Every fortunate birth, over which the Fates 
smile propitiously, is the result of fervent but amiable 
intercourse, to which either parent yields with gladness, 
and not the result of an insane and brutal act from 
which the female seeks to fly in fear and terror. And 
I hold it to be a law written in the very nature of 
things, that a violent, ungovernable stallion is unfit for 
the purposes of the stud. When breeders refuse to 
stint their mares to such brutes, they will disappear, and 
not before. The owners of such creatures can only be 
reached through the pocket. Mercenary considerations 
they feel the force of, and none others. Let these 
violent stallions alone, and their owners will get better 
ones, and not before. 

Touching the state of the stallion's health at the time 
of service, this should be said : It should be perfect ; 
and perfect health in the horse kind, allow me to 
remind the reader, is not shown by fatness. A horse is 
not a hog ; and that state which types the excellence of 
the one does not type it in the other. Fat stallions are 



THE SIEE. 117 

unfit stallions to breed to. A stock-horse should, by- 
judicious exercise and dieting, be .kept at just that 
point at which the nervous and muscular forces are at 
the flood. It is astonishing how much exercise a stock- 
horse can take, and keep improving in his nervous and 
muscular condition all the while. From ten to twenty 
miles a day is not generally too much work during the 
covering season : with this amount their condition will 
be superb. What a coat, what eyes, what limbs, they 
will have ! How little like a pig, and how much like a 
horse, they will look when led from the stall ! A horse 
thus treated will also be a sure foal-getter. Half of the 
mares he served will not be returned upon him the 
next season. Indolence on the part of the sire during 
the covering season is the curse of American breeding. 
I know stallions in New England that are fat as swine, 
and are rarely driven a mile, but stand day after day in 
sluggish, vigor-sapping idleness. What colts can you 
expect from horses kept in such a condition ? 

I have already given my views as to the degree of 
influence derived from either parent; but I may say 
here, that I would never breed a mare to a stallion with 
the expectation of getting a trotting-colt, unless the 
stallion could trot. The trotting -action seems to be 
peculiarly the gift of the s'ire, prouided that he is not 
weak in those nervous and constitutional forces which 
enable him to repeat himself in his offspring. A horse 
with trotting-action, but weak in vital force, will not be 
apt to transmit his way of going, or any thing else of 



118 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

himself; but, other things being equal, you may expect 
that the sire will give his action to his colts. I might 
mention horses remarkable for this, — horses that mark 
their colts so decidedly with their action, that it alone is 
sufficient to designate their parentage. Such a horse, if 
his style of going is good, is invaluable to the breeder. 
I emphasize "style of going," because many stallions 
that trot, and trot fast too, do not trot ivell. Consider- 
able speed can and does often co-exist with a faulty 
action ; and this should be noted. A great many stal- 
lions trot too ivide ; that is, they have too oj^en a gait. 
Such an action is faulty ; and the reason is this : It is 
necessary, as all admit, that, in speeding, the action of 
the hind-legs should be wide enough to allow the feet 
to pass outside of the forward-legs. This is indispensa- 
ble. But it should be borne in mind that every inch 
of lateral action requires exertion, costs effort, and ex- 
hausts strength; and that the horse should be gaited, 
therefore, so as to "open up" no wider than is abso- 
lutely necessary in order to get safely by his fore-legs ; 
for every inch of side-action beyond this is unneces- 
sary, and a source of exhaustion, when every ounce of 
strength is needed to bring him home in time. What 
we want is motion in a straight line^ or as near a straight 
line as the circumstances of the case will permit ; and he 
is the best horse who "spreads" enough to go clear and 
free, and stops there. I hold, therefore, that these over- 
wide-gaited horses are of faulty action. They and their 
get show excellently on the exercise-ground, or when led 



THE SIRE. 119 

at our fliirs up and clown before the judges' stand to the 
halter ; for they literally make a great spread, attract the 
popular eye, and enable every fool to see that they 
have got trotting-action. But these colts that trot so 
wide, that they could trot with a flour-barfel between 
their legs, do not trot so well, I notice, at the end of the 
heat as they do at the beginning, and are generally 
found at the wrong side of the distance-posts at the 
conclusion in a well-contested race of the fourth or 
fifth heat. 

I have a stallion in mind, as I write, that trots a three- 
minute clip — so perfect is his knee-action, and quick is 
his gather — without "opening up" at all, but that can 
"open up" enough to show his heels to many wider- 
gaited horses, when it is necessary to get his nose to the 
judges' wnre quicker than 30 sec. And, what he can do 
the first heat, he can keep on doing the fifth, sixth, or 
seventh heat, or all day, for that matter: and the reason 
is, because he does not waste any force by szt/e-action, but 
delivers his strokes in a straight line ; and every inch of 
movement brings him an inch nearer home. And this is 
the style of horse that will invariably win when the con- 
testants are many, the race a close one, and endurance 
every thing. Now, the colts of this horse resemble their 
sire in this their style of going. When led to the halter, 
they do not "open out" at all, or very little, because the 
groom cannot make the pace fast enough for them to feel 
the need of effort ; and I doubt if many judges at the 
New-England fairs would ever regard them as worthy to 



120 THE PEEFECT HOKSE. 

compete for prizes among colts of the wide-going, Morrill 
action. But when these little trappy, quick-stepping fel- 
lows are grown up, and happen to be called Dauntless' 
or Ned Wallace, the backers of the Morrill and Tom Jef- 
ferson stock find that they have trotting-action enough 
to get them round to the wire about two lengths quicker 
than it was for their interest to have them get home. I 
must confess to a growing dislike to this excessive wide 
"action of the hind-feet: it may impress the crowd, and 
secure purchasers from that large number of people who 
never reason upon any thing, but who buy a horse, as 
the drunken sailor bought his ladder, "because it was so 
well ventilated ; " but to me it argues weakness or faulty 
construction where both are fatal to the highest form of 
success. While, therefore, I would breed to no stallion 
who had not a trotting-gait, I should not be especially 
attracted to one noted for " wide action " as the phrase 
is ; and if this width of action is associated, as is often 
the case, with slowness of gather, — that is, if his hind- 
feet went very wide apart, and staid under the sulky a 
good luliile^ — I would not breed to him anyway. This 
tardiness of gathering is a bad feature in a horse : a slow- 
gathering horse will never trot fast^ no matter how open 
his gait, or how long his stride. I have seen horses stride 
a distance of seventeen feet when they were not trotting 
better than a 2.50 gait. These slow-gathering horses 
are generally long-backed horses ; and horses with long 
backs, unless splendidly developed over the loins, are 
apt to gather slowly. The power to bring their feet up 



THE SIRE. 121 

from under the sulky with a twitch, and shoot them 
ahead as the arrow is shot out of a bow, is not in them. 
Select a stallion short in the upper line, and long in the 
lower line, strongly coupled over the hips, and the dis- 
tance between the hip-bones and spine-bone swellmg 
with ridges and masses of muscle that you can see play 
and work like great pulleys when taking their exercise, 
and you will get colts from him that will stride far, and 
gather like lightning. As to the height and size, I say 
unhesitatingly, that the perfect horse in these respects is 
one that stands fifteen hands and two inches high (sixty- 
two inches), and weighs ten hundred and fifty pounds. 
This is the standard of perfection ; an inch either Avay in 
height, or fifty pounds in weight, is allowable : but for 
speed and endurance, for the purposes of general driv- 
ing, and for the track, and, therefore, for the purposes 
of breeding, no stallion should weigh less than a thou- 
sand, or more than eleven hundred pounds; neither 
should he stand higher than sixty-three inches, nor 
lower than sixty. It used to be thought, that for the 
purposes of the track, and in order to be good weight- 
pullers, large-sized horses were indispensable ; but when 
men saw Flora Temple, barely tipping eight hundred 
pounds, pull the same weight as the great stallion 
George M. Patcheu, and get her nose in at the wire 
a little quicker than he could, heat after heat, they had 
to go back on their favorite theory. Theory and specu- 
lation are excellent in their place and way ; but they 
are useless when put over against the logic of facts; 



122 THE PERrECT HOESE. 

and tlie fact is, that the best weight-pullers of the 
country, since the first trotting-race was made, have 
been horses of medium size, and, in many cases, even 
under-sized. Many illustrations of this I might offer in 
way of proof 

Now, if horses of this weight and size can do all that 
any of the horse-kind can do, why should they not be 
regarded as the model horse ; that is, the size and weight 
with which the Creator has associated the greatest speed 
and endurance ? Nor, indeed, is excessive weight a 
proof of strength. Old Justin Morgan, when weighing 
less than nine hundred pounds, would pull a log heavier 
than any twelve-hundred-pound horse that could be 
found in the States of Maine and Vermont. He would 
not only pull a log that these heavier horses could not 
even start, but pull it with two heavy men sitting 
astride of it. In view of these facts, is not all weight 
above the standard suggested excessive weight ? Does 
it not burden a horse, endanger his limbs, imperil his 
feet, and detract materially from his general value ? The 
Hambletonian and Morrill stock, because of the speed 
and general excellence of their get, set the fashion, and 
caused large-sized horses to be eagerly sought for and 
demanded, and the Morgan family of horses to be de- 
spised as undersized. But this was only an accident, 
and the fashion of an hour. After twenty years of breed- 
ing and use, we know that heavy horses cannot stand 
work on our paved avenues and stone-bedded roads ; 
and we also know that they can neither trot faster, nor 



THE SIEE. ' 123 

stay longer, than the ten-hundred or ten-hundred-and- 
fifty pound horse. My advice, therefore, is, to breed 
from a medium-sized stallion ; and, if you wish to enlarge 
the size of your colts, get the extra size by a cross with 
large-sized mares. I do not say that this is the indis- 
pensable way ; but it is the better way, as I judge ; and 
I therefore recommend it. 

This matter of crossing naturally introduces the vexed 
question, "What shall we cross with? " The matter of 
blood — what it symbolizes, and where it can be found 
— and of in-breeding come before us naturally at this 
point for discussion; and we will here group together 
what we have to say, choosing for our general caption 
the word 

THOROUGH-BRED. 

All over the country, from Maine to California, in 
every State where horses are bred, this word is being 
spoken in hot debate. It has been the cause of more 
verbal strife among breeders and horsemen than any 
other word in the dictionary ; and still the fight goes 
on, and with varying fortune. The advocates and oppo- 
nents of breeding trotting-mares to thorough-bred stal- 
lions, and vice versd^ have their alternate successes. 
One will say, "Nothing but a thorough-bred mare is 
fit to breed to a good stallion." Another will deny that 
a trotter can be got from such a cross. One will 
declare, "We must warm up our cold-blooded mares 
by breeding to thorough-bred horses, in order to give 
game, and power to stag a distance, to the colts." 



124 . THE PEEFECT HORSE. 

Another will point you to a dozen horses that have 
drifted up to the cities from the barn-yards of Maine, 
or been bought out of string-teams, — as Dutchman the 
Wonderful was, — about whose pedigree nothing was 
known, and of some of which nothing is known up to 
this day, that were able to trot fast, and trot all clay, 
and say, "If that is low blood, then low blood is good 
enough for me." 

Then there is another class, who are neither ignorant 
nor prejudiced, who doubt the expediency of breeding 
to running-stock at all, on the ground that the running- 
gait is so opposite to the trotting-gait, and at the same 
time so strong and true to itself, that it cannot be over- 
conib in the cross, but will remain dominant in the foal ; 
and that the breeder will find, that, in breeding in the 
running-gait, he has bred out the trotting-action. 

To this view I give assent ; and my opinion is based 
both upon actual trial in my own stables, and upon 
observation of many other stables. I hold that a 
thorough-bred mare of running-action will very rarely 
produce a foal of trotting-action when bred to a trotting- 
stallion, or vice versa. I hold that two styles of going, 
so unlike, cannot harmonize. Like two hostile cur- 
rents, they fight each other, and come to a stand-still. 
The colt is neither a trotter nor a runner. He is an 
excellent, stylish roadster and saddle-horse; and that is 
all. He is a good horse for many purposes, but not 
such a horse as the breeder desired and expected. This, 
I say, is my opinion. I thrust it offensively upon no 
one ; but I hold to it. 



THE StRE. 125 

The question — and it is one of tlie utmost impor- 
tance — arises, therefore, "Where shall we get blood, 
if we cannot go to the thorough-bred running-family ? 
How can we breed colts of sufficient beauty, courage, 
and endurance to meet the demands of the purchasing 
public and the turf, if we cannot go to the thorough- 
bred for our crosses ? for it is admitted on all sides that 
hlood tells. ''^ 

In response to this interrogation I reply, Th/it we 
must go to thorougli-hreds to find what we need ; but we 
must go to the thorough-bred trotting.^ and not to the 
thorough-bred running horse. 

And now I would ask the reader's closest attention 
to what I am to say ; because I deem it of prime impor- 
tance to the breeder, and likely to be attacked by 
many. 

The word "thorough-bred" has an artificial and a 
natural, a technical and- a practical, significance. Techni- 
cally considered, the thorough-bred horse is one whose 
pedigree can be traced back through imported stock to 
the English stud-books, and through these to the East, 
whence the modern English thorough-bred horse ances- 
trally came. This is what I call the artificial or technical 
significance of the word " thorough-bred." It does not 
prove that a horse is a good animal ; for many, both in 
this country and in England, whose pedigree can be 
traced back to an Arabian source, are comparatively of 
little value. In England you can find hundreds of 
"weedy" colts, with neither lungs nor legs able to 



126 THE PEEFECT HORSE. 

stand the necessary work to fit them for a race, or, 
indeed, of any considerable value any way ; and the 
same is true with us. To buy a horse simply because 
he has a long and noble pedigree is to buy as a fool 
buyeth. And especially does this hold true in the case 
of breeding ; for which purpose, none but the best speci- 
mens of the family you desire to cross with should be 
purchased. A poor horse is a poor horse the world 
over in all families, and in spite of pedigree. A good 
animal with a good pedigree is what the breeder 
needs ; and this rule should be closely adhered to. To 
vary from this principle is to risk all. 

Beyond this technical sense, the word " thorough-bred" 
has another and a practical significance, which I will 
now explain. In the practical sense, the word stands 
for and symbolizes certain indispensable qualities which 
give value to the animal, and decide his rank and place 
in the grade to which he belongs. Among these may 
be mentioned beauty of form, toughness of bone and 
muscular structure, vivacity and docility of tempera- 
ment, intelligence, and above all, perhaps, in value, the 
poiver of endurance, and the desire to do ; what horse- 
men express by the word "game." All pedigrees are 
worthless save as they indicate and warrant that the 
horse with the noble ancestry is noble himself It is a 
help to the judgment, as to the value of a colt, to know 
that its dam is a Star mare; because a Star mare is a 
daughter of American Star; and American Star was 
sired by Henry, who ran against Eclipse in the famous 



THE SIRE. 127 

match between the North and South, To a breeder 
such a pedigree is of the utmost value, because it is a 
guaranty that the colt out of such a mare will have, to 
some extent at least, the noble qualities which made his 
ancestors famous. Now, then, the question comes back 
to us, "What makes a thorough-bred? " And I say, that, 
for all practical purposes, a horse which has a certain 
perfection of form, a certain degree of intelligence, the 
power to do great deeds when called upon, together 
with the high courage to attempt and to actually 
perform them, is a thorough-bred horse. That is 
my answer to the question; and I think that it will 
recommend itself to the common sense of the reader. 
Observe, then, what are the facts of the case as 
connected with the trotting-horse. The facts are 
these : that, beginning with Dutchman, and coming 
down through Lady Suffolk, Flora Temple, George 
M. Patchen, Ethan Allen, Dexter, and Goldsmith's 
Maid, we have had for the last fifty years in this 
country a race of horses of trotting-action of as fine a 
spirit, and as great powers of endurance, as any that 
were ever bred. In perfection of structure, in the 
symmetrical adjustment of all the parts, in intelligence, 
— that surest proof and crown of good breeding, — in 
dauntless resolution that stopped not short of death 
itself in the hour of supreme performance, these horses, 
and countless others like to thein, were, I claim, second 
to none that ever delighted the eye and made j^roud 
the heart of man. I hold that it is unjust to these 



128 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

noble horses to call them of vulgar or basely-tainted 
blood. They were kings and queens in that order of 
life to which they belonged, and proved their royal 
qualities on many a contested field when the lookers-on 
stood breathless. I object, both on the ground of senti- 
ment and proper classification, to such a definition of 
thorough-bred, that, in order to be just to the one class 
of horses, one must be unjust to the other. Where 
they are equal in performance, they should be equal in 
honor. Who shall say that Old Topgallant, when he 
went against Whalebone four-mile heats, and trotted 
them in 11.16, 11.06, 11.17, and 12.15, —that is, 
making his sixteen miles in forty-five minutes and forty- 
four seconds, which is just 2.52|- to the mile, and that, 
too, when he was tiventy-tioo years of age, — is not 
worthy to stand beside Eclipse, or Henry, or any other 
horse that ever ran a race ? There is a right and a 
wrong to this thing; and, for one, I assert that the 
nomenclature is faulty, and the classification vicious, 
which covers Longfellow and Harry Bassett with laurel, 
and leaves Dexter and Goldsmith's Maid without a 
spray. There is, therefore, as I understand the merits 
of the case, tivo great families of thorough-bred horses, 
instead of one^ in this country. The one is the thorough- 
bred running-horse : the other is the thorough-bred 
trotting-horse. The time has come for horsemen to 
understand this, and no longer be fettered by a 
classification applicable only to a country where the 
trotting-horse is not known or honored. The English 



THE SIRE. 129 

stud-books are sufficient for England, where the running- 
horse embodies all excellence; but they are entirely 
insufficient in this country, where the trotting-horse 
finds his ancestry, his birthplace, and the field of his 
glory. There is, therefore, in this country, a family of 
horses possessing the very qualities for which the Eng- 
lish running-horse has so long been noted, and in as 
great a derjree^ as the history of its performances shows, 
but which are distinguished from the English thorough- 
bred by their style of going : and to this family, by 
every law and rule of justice, the same honorable 
nomenclature must be given ; and we now give it the 
same, and ask your attention to what we have to sug- 
gest touching the 

THOROUGH-BRED TROTTING-HORSE. 

We have alluded to the matter of out-crossino; in 
order to get "blood," — that is, those high qualities 
which it symbolizes, — and we have said that it were 
not wise to go to the running-family for the cross ; and 
this we repeat. First, because, in doing this, you lose 
the trotting-action ; and, secondly, because there is no 
need to do it, since the same perfection of courage 
you seek can be found in the trotting -family itself. 
Those of my readers who know any thing of Ethan 
Allen, Taggart's Abdallah, Old Morrill, or his famous 
grandson Fearnaught, and Lambert, and the get of 
these horses, know, that for beauty, intelligence, fine- 
ness of temper, and courage to "do or die," they are 



130 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

not excelled by any stdlion of the running -family 
living ; and I will not except the great Leamington, or 
his greater son Longfellow. I have passed from the 
stall of Dexter to the stable of Harry Bassertt ; I have 
seen Leamington and Longfellow one w^eek, and Fear- 
naught and Taggart's Abdallah the next ; and I solemnly 
aver, that neither in the sheen of their glossy coats, the 
bright, conrageous look of their faces, the symmetry of 
proportion, or suggestions of muscular power, did these 
highest types of the one family excel these highest 
types of the other. 

There is no doubt but that originally we were depend- 
ent entirely upon the thorough-bred running-horse to 
re-enforce the common breed of the country with more 
generous qualities. It is to imported Messenger and 
Diomed and Bashaw especially that we are indebted for 
those excellences which now distinguish our trotting- 
horses. I would be the first to recos-nize the oblio-ation 
that the trotting-family is under to the running-family ; 
and there was a time when the breeder must needs 
go to the racing-stables for those crosses from which 
the needed re-enforcement to the weak common blood 
of the native "^breed might be obtained. But now, 
owing to this very outcrossing with the imported thor- 
ough-bred and the success which naturally attended it, 
the trotting-flimily has become, to all intents and pur- 
poses, thorough-bred itself, and able to supply within 
its own membership every desirable quality and attri- 
bute. In localities where this transmission of thorough 



THE SIRE. 131 

blood has not occurred, and only vulgar mares can be 
obtained, I do not hesitate to advise the importation of 
mares from running-families for dams. This plan will 
improve the stock immeasurably ; and, after two or three 
generations of judicious crossing, the trotting-gait will 
appear in the colts, and the breeder will thus ultimately 
reap his reward. But, where well-bred trotting-m^res 
can be found, give these the preference over mares of 
')mn7img-tictioB. alone, if your object is to breed trotters. 
Some breeders, I know, are possessed with the idea that 
one must resort to the thorough-bred running-family in 
order to find that symmetrical structure and beautiful 
appearance which all lovers of the horse delight to see. 
With this ambition to breed beautiful horses I most 
heartily sympathize. No degree of speed can atone in 
my eye for the lack of beauty. Beauty and speed must 
co-exist, if possible, in every colt bred in my stables. 
Many, I know, are indifferent to this, and care little how 
a horse looks, if he can only go. This I hold to be 
against the course of nature, which ever seeks to pro- 
duce the perfect ; and no horse that is ugly to the eye 
can be called perfect. Away, then, I say, with your 
heavy-limbed, ragged-hipped, long-haired, big-eared, 
bucket-headed horses ! I wouldn't drive one a rod if 
he' would trot a mile in a minute. I like the exhilara- 
tion of rapid movement, the excitement of the rush, 
and the royal joy of passing ; but the animal that gives 
all this to me must please the eye. But those who 
suppose that the thorough-bred running-horse is neces- 



132 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

sarily beautiful to the eye are greatly mistaken. Im- 
ported Messenger was a large, ungainly -looking horse ; 
Mambrino, his son, was badly string-halted ; Abdallah, his 
grandson, was a large, angular-looking creature, with big 
head, scarcely any mane, ragged- hipped, and a rat-tail 
The Melbournes of England are lop-eared. Many of the 
Clays, descendants of imported Bashaw, are large-headed, 
coarse-looking horses. I have seen thirty brood-mares, 
whose blood had flowed down to them through twenty 
generations, absolutely untainted ; and among them all 
there was neither a head, neck, coat, or form, more 
beautiful than I can find in a dozen daughters of the old 
Green-Mountain horse in Vermont. So far as beauty 
goes, Gifford Morgan was, perhaps, the handsomest 
horse ever seen on a parade-ground in America. Coat, 
eye, ear, form, and style, all that man might long to see 
in a horse, could be seen in him. One of his grand- 
sons, Taggart's Abdallah, is the most beautiful horse I 
have ever seen, either of the trotting or racing families. 
]\Iany of the descendants of the Old Morrill horse, whose 
dams were Morgan mares, and the sons and daughters 
of Vermont Black Hawk, were so beautiful, as to leave 
little, if any thing, to be desired. I do not think, there^ 
fore, that the breeder need to go outside of the trotting- 
family to find the highest type of equine beauty. 

In another portion of this work I have given my 
views of the Morgan stock at length ; and will only say 
at this point, that no better cross can be made, by a 
breeder who would breed handsome horses, than this 



THE SIEE. • 133 

half-cross witli the Morgan blood. This essentially is 
the cross that produced Ethan Allen, Fearnaught, 
Taggart's Abdallah, and many other stallions, whose 
symmetry of proportion, beauty of color, and no- 
bility of carriage, would have made them celebrated, 
even if they had not been speedy. There are some 
daughters of the old Green-Mountain horse in Vermont 
yet, whose heads are worthy the pencil and brush of a 
Bonheur. A Hambletonian stallion, if he be a good 
specimen of his family, put to such a mare, would be 
likely to get a colt that would look about right when 
exhibited to the halter, or when flying down the home- 
stretch. 

I have now given my views in all frankness touching 
this somewhat vexed question of "blood." It is prob- 
able that many, to whose judgment in any question 
relating to what is wise or unwise in breeding grave 
attention should be given, will not agree with me : 
such entertain the conviction that we must still rely 
on thorough-bred running-stock for assistance in our 
effort to produce trotting-horses that shall have the re- 
quisite stamina and courage to stand the work required 
to fit them for the supreme effort, and the resolution on 
the day of the race to do the deed demanded of them. 
But, for one, I am persuaded that this opinion cannot be 
maintained in the face of the facts in the case. The 
record of every year is clearly proving that colts bred 
from trotting-stock on both sides, unassisted by any 
cross with the thorough-bred running-stock, are abun- 



134 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

dantly able to do all that horses may be expected to 
do, and do it right along continually. If this be true, 
the subject is beyond the need of argument, and outside 
the boundary of speculation ; and breeders of trotting- 
horses may henceforth regard it as a law in breeding, 
that trotters can be safely inbred to trotters, as run- 
ning-horses are inbred to running-horses. And to this 
maxim my judgment gives a full, unhesitating assent. 

In reference to this matter of inbreeding, I am in- 
clined to think that not only should it be done between 
members of the trotting-family, but that it may also be 
done Avith profit in the case of blood relations. I know 
that many have strong prejudices against this, and that 
physiologists claim, that, in the human family, it is at- 
tended with grave and lamentable results ; but, to my 
mind, the case does not seem to be made out. In 
the hrst place, it should be remembered that mar- 
riage in the human llimily cannot be regulated as in the 
case of animals. You cannot elect and discard at will. 
Other than scientific principles prevail to bring about 
the union. Hence it comes about that faults and weak- 
nesses, both as to the mind and body, are increased, 
instead of decreased ; and the child sufters in a double 
measure from the infirmity of either parent, because 
he represents the infirmity multiplied by two. But, 
in the case of animals, the election of partners for the 
union can be arbitrary, and so imperfections avoided, 
and excellences greatly and quickly increased. The 
cases are so unlike, you perceive, that it is not fair to 



THE SIRE. 135 

reason from the one to the other. But, in addition to 
this, certain facts exist of a character to cause one, at 
least, to suspend his judgment. The world began with 
a single pair ; and, in the human family, inbreeding, and 
that, too, of the closest kind, must have been the rule. 
Who can doubt but that the perfect produced the per- 
fect? 

The Jews were forbidden to marry with foreign 
nations ; and in the earlier portions of their history, 
when under the government of the patriarchs, and 
comparatively few in numbers, it is fair to suppose that 
intermarriage must often have been between blood 
relations. But the Jews, instead of losing stamina 
and constitutional vitality,, have held their own in 
numbers and mental character, while a thousand nations 
have perished. Europe also furnishes us with further 
data. There, by reason of the law of primogeniture 
being enforced in order to retain their great ancestral 
estates intact, marriages between first-cousins have often 
been made a necessity. I might mention noble houses, 
whose ancestral records run back beyond the Norman 
invasion, whose children have furnished England with 
her orators, statesmen, and poets, and whose female mem- 
bers have been among the most beautiful, vivacious, and 
long-lived of the land, in which, nevertheless, for state 
and property considerations, marriage between cousins 
has been the rule rather than the exception. I might 
adduce other illustrations equally to the point ; but those 
already given are enough to make the thoughtful pause 



136 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

before they pronounce judgment touching the extent 
and limitation of those laws which the all-wise Creator 
ordained to govern the propagation of the species. 
That a limit exists somewhere is undoubtedly true ; but, 
just where the point at which we should stop is located, 
it is not so easy to affirm. Now, in respect to the horse, 
history, so far as it goes, seems to be in favor of in- 
breeding. Indeed, the evidence is unmistakable, and 
all tending in one direction. To begin with this 
country, and in the trotting-family : the old Abdallah 
was the result of a cross between a half brother and 
sister ; Mambrino and Amazonia, his sire and dam, 
being both gotten by imported Messenger. The old 
Hambletonian was by Messenger, out of a daughter 
of Alessenger. 

One-Eye, the dam of E-ysdyk's Hambletonian's dam, 
was again the result of a cross between a son and 
daughter of Messenger, Then, again, the Charles Kent 
mare, whose dam was the result of the incestuous union 
between the son and daughter of Messenger, was bred 
to Abdallah, the result of a like incestuous union ; and 
the result is Rysdyk's Hambletonian. Observe this 
order : A son and daughter of Messenger produce Ab- 
dallah, — this certainly is as close inbreeding, almost, as 
one can have, — and the result is the most famous horse 
of his family ; and he gets a son, when bred to his 
cousin, that founds a family whose fame is known the 
world over. If we should go to the English stud- 
books, a list of any required length might be made out, 



THE SIBE. 137 

all going to sliow that inbreeding, — even to the degree 
of incestuous union, — when properly directed by the 
breeder, has been and may be the means of producing 
horses of a degree of excellence otherwise unattaina- 
ble. Observe the emphasized words, because the limi- 
tation they mark out touching this matter is a very 
significant one. The rule, as I understand the matter, 
should be this : When inbreeding closely, allow the 
union to take place only between ^ez/ec^ animals. Never 
forget that the same law which enables you not only to 
keep, alive, but to increase, the average excellence of 
their ancestors and themselves, at the same time oper- 
ates to the perpetuation, in an exaggerated form, of all 
vices and faults. Deficiencies as well as excellences, 
base as truly as noble qualities, will have a double 
chance of becoming dominant. If one parent alone is 
vicious, then the offspring may be good-natured ; but, 
if both parents be vicious, then will the foal be sure to 
be an ugly brute anyway. This is the law which 
makes all close inbreeding hazardous, and impossible for 
the average breeder to follow out. I recommend it, 
therefore, only in those cases where both of the intended 
parents are perfect animals. Having such animals, I 
should breed fearlessly in and in. Nevertheless, even 
in this case, I should outcross occasionally, and after- 
ward breed back again to the original stock. By this 
method, as I conceive, great benefit might be derived, 
and all peril shunned. 

Such are my views concerning this much-debated and 



138 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

vexatious question, — vexatious, because no precise con- 
clusion can be drawn as to it. The full solution calls 
for such a penetration into the secrets of life and life- 
begetting functions and causes as mortal may never hope 
to have. But this much is beyond contradiction, — that 
beginning with Eclipse, who was very closely inbred, 
down to Hambletonian of our own times, many of the 
most noted winners, and getters of winners, have been 
the product of in-and-in breeding so close as to be 
incestuous ; and, while facts have due weight in men's 
estimate of what is wise and unwise in action, this will 
be remembered, and will influence breeders, in spite of 
theory and mere speculation, no matter by whom held 
or advanced. To me it seems not only safe within 
certain limits, and advisable on general principles, to 
breed in and in when the stock is perfect, but the only 
way in which the breeder can retain in his stables the 
characteristic excellences, which, by years of selection 
and experiment, perhaps, he has succeeded in producing. 



CHAPTER Y. 



THE DAM. 



I HAVE given at length my views of what consti- 
tutes a good stock-horse, and the qualities which he 
should possess, and what may be his influence on the 
progeny. I will now take up the subject of the dam's 
influence upon the foal, and what are the qualities 
which should characterize her. Touching this subject, 
I would say, to start with, that the influence of the dam 
is much more considerable in the majority of cases, in 
shaping the character of the future colt, than many 
imagine. To me it seems natural that it should be so. 
Without reiterating what I have already said in a 
previous section of this work, I would ask the reader to 
observe how intimately the foal is connected with the 
dam, not only previous to its birth, but for a long 
period afterward. From the very beginning of its life 
it is fed by the mother's blood, and affected by her 
moods. Before ever it has seen the light, she has had 
the time and the power to stamp it with her vices or 
her virtues, impart to it her weakness or her strength. 



139 



I-IO THE PEEFECT HORSE. 

Not only the bone-structure, the muscular tissues, the 
arterial and venous system, and the measure of bodily 
growth, are decided by the mother's constitutional 
powers and condition, but the very nerve-structure and 
brain-force receive from her tone and quality. The foal 
may be pictured as lying at her mercy, dominated by 
the sweet tyranny of nature. When thinking of these 
things, I cease to wonder that many of the most famous 
horses, both of the past and present time, closely re- 
semble their dams. Dexter takes his look from his 
mother, the daughter of American Star, who was sired 
by the thorough -bred running-horse, Henry. Neither 
in body, limbs, head, nor temperament, does he bear any 
likeness to his sire, Rysdyk's Hambletonian. The same 
may be said of Goldsmith's Maid, Lady Thome, Major 
Winfield, and others of almost equal celebrity. They are 
all mother'' s children, as we should say in respect to mem- 
bers of the human family. Every breeder has observed 
this peculiarity. I have a filly in my stables, sired by a 
horse of high breeding and great vitality, to whom, 
nevertheless, she does not bear the least resemblance, but 
is a facsimile of the dam. Color, size, shape, style of 
going, expression of the countenance, even the way in 
which she eats her oats, or neighs before they are given 
her, — in all these things she is the dam over again. 
But, where the facts are admitted, an allusion to them is 
sufficient ; and he who considers the facts must wonder 
that the dam's influence on the foal has been and is still 
regarded by many breeders as comparatively insignifi- 



THE DAM. 141 

cant. To this general law there are certain exceptions. 
Now and then you find a brood-mare that seems to have 
no marking power at all : they give nothing to the foal 
save the food on which he grows. From the moment 
he is born, he is perceived to be the sire's own child. 
The dam seems only to have carried it ; been, as it 
were, a receptacle for it; carried it as something that 
did not belong to her, but to another, and which she 
was to feed and nourish and introduce. Only this, and 
nothing more ; for this literally was all she did. She 
left no stamp or impress of herself upon it at all, either 
as to size, color, structure, or temperament. Such 
brood-mares to the breeder are simply invaluable. 
With them he hioivs what he shall get ; and that which 
defies all calculation, and baffles all intelligence, is re- 
moved, — uncertainty. But this is, as I have said, the 
exception : in the average order of nature it is not so ; 
and hence the character and condition of the dam from 
which the foal is to come, is, to the breeder, a matter of 
gravest concern. Several things a brood-mare should 
be sure to have, which we will now enumerate ; the 
first of which is blood. The value of pedigree in this 
connection can scarcely be over-rated. We take it for 
granted that no respectable breeder would breed to a 
horse of unknow^n lineage. That would be queer breed- 
ing indeed!' The pedigree of the stallion, then, being 
known, and the pedigree of the brood-mare being also 
known, the breeder can forecast, with a reasonable de- 
gree of certainty, the characteristics and qualities of the 



142 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

future colt ; the law being that the foal will resemble 
the parents, or some one of the less remote grand- 
parents. The reader perceives how practical, in this 
connection, is the benefit derived fronl pedigrees in 
breeding. Without them the uncertainty of what the 
get will be is increased twenty per cent. I do not say 
I would not buy a mare for brooding-purposes whose 
pedigree was not ascertained; for I would: but I do 
say, that, with the pedigree well verified, I should 
regard her worth considerably more money for the pur- 
pose for which I was buying her than without one. 
But the purchaser should always remember that the 
animal herself is a better assistance to his judgment than 
any pedigree, and that no mare should be bought for 
brooding-purposes because of her pedigree. The horse 
first, and the pedigree too, is the way to have it stand 
in your mind. Hemember, also, that pedigrees can be 
created. It is astonishing how long a pedigree can be 
got up at a moment's notice. Only let the horse-jockey 
ascertain what blood you prefer, and he will lead you 
out a daughter of that flimily in a minute ! I do not 
wish to suggest that horse-dealers are less honest than 
dealers in other, commodities ; for men of peculiar moral 
idiosyncrasies find a playful exercise of their powers in 
commercial transactions : but I do say that I have met 
men — dealers in horses — who did not seem to have a 
full realizing sense of the apostolic injunction, " Lie not 
at all," especially in this matter of pedigrees, about 
which more lapses of memory probably occur than any 



THE DAII. 143 

other subject within the scope of human recollection. 
It will do well for the tyro to bear it in mind, lest he 
pay too high for both horse and pedigree. 

Touching the frame of the brood-mare, I need give 
no instruction beyond what is contained in the first 
ninety -five pages of this work, wherein I describe the 
structure of the perfect horse. Let her be in every 
respect good as the best, — that is, as near perfection as 
you can find, or your purse command, — and you will not 
go amiss in your selection. But one thing should be 
mentioned, because, concerning it, men differ, and, as I 
think, some err. I refer to the size of the brood-mare. 
Many say that the breeder should select a large mare / 
and perhaps, as a general thing, where you wish to 
breed colts of greater size than the parents, it is better 
to have the mare larger than the horse. On this plan 
you escape risk in the act of foaling ; for small mares 
bred to large stallions are sometimes unable to deliver 
the foal without great effort, and sometimes not at all. 
To avoid this risk, it is wise to have the dam larger than 
the sire when you Avish to breed uj) in size; but, be- 
yond this, I think the size immaterial. " A large, roomy 
mare " is a favorite phrase with many breeders ; but 
I could never see what mere bulk had to do with 
value, unless you are breeding for the cart. Quantity 
does not dictate quality. The children of large-sized 
parents are no more gifted than those whose father 
and mother weigh less. The amount of flesh does not 
decide the character of spiritual essences, and of those 



144 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

subtle forces wliich make life virile ; and, for one, I 
never allow the matter of size to affect my judgment 
in the least, as I hold that it cannot affect the result. I 
would not breed a mare that weighed less than nine 
hundred, or one that weighed more than eleven hundred 
pounds. From nine hundred and fifty to a thousand and 
fifty is Avhat I regard as the best weight. Nor does the 
sJiape affect me much, provided that it be such as makes 
her good for service. The old breeders thought — and 
many breeders think to-day — that a drooping rump is 
the best form for a brood-mare. They argued, fi'om such a 
formation of the structure, an easy delivery of the foal ; 
whereas they conceived that a mare with a flat or 
straight rump formation could not deliver the foal 
easily. But my experience and observation disprove 
this. The mare that delivers the foal more easily than 
any other in my stables is one of nine hundred and 
thirty pounds' weight, with a slim round barrel rather 
"picked up," narrow between the hips, and her back- 
bone running out nearly straight to the root of the tail ; 
and yet her colts are invariably strong, and she herself 
so little exercised in the delivery, that her pulse is never 
feverish, her appetite not in the least disturbed, nor her 
digestion affected. We have never even given her a 
warm mash ; and she has brought three large-sized colts 
into the world. Other instances by the dozen I might 
give, if it were necessary. I pay no attention, therefore, 
to the talk about "large, roomy mares for breeders," 
but hold that size alone neither improves the foal, nor 



THE DAIVI. 145 

insures greater safety to the dam when bringing it 
forth. It is quality, not quantity, we need in our brood- 
mares. The texture of the bones, and the way in which 
they are adjusted, and not the size of them; the charac- 
ter of the temperament, and not the fleshy bulk, — are 
Avhat give value to the dam, and, through her, to the 
foal. 

This matter of temperament is of the utmost impor- 
tance ; and I refer the reader to what was said under 
that head earlier in the volume. Here I need not ex- 
pand the subject, save that the lymphatic, sluggish tem- 
perament is to be avoided. Never select a low, base- 
spirited mare to breed from. Touching the temper, be 
particular: under no consideration ever breed from a 
vicious mare. You have no right to do it ; and it will 
not pay to do \l. It is the chief glory of the American 
horse, that he is the most enduring and the most amia- 
ble of his kind on the face of the earth, the Orient ex- 
ce^^ted. Next to the Arabian in docility and intelli- 
gence, in love for man, and general hardihood, stands 
the American. The English thorough-bred is a devil ; 
the Spanish and Italian horses are brutes ; the French 
racer is to be admired at a distance : but the American 
horse is kind and gentle ; and, in the gloss and bloom of 
grooming and virility, the American stallion can be 
petted by women, and fondled by children. I confess 
that I am very proud of this. It argues intelligence and 
humanity among the people, and noble qualities on the 
part of our horses. It should be the great ambition of 

10 



146 THE PERFECT HOESB. 

the breeder and groom to keep this just as it is. Now, 
the . dam, beyond doubt, has immeasurably more to do 
with the temper of the foal than the sire. I have inva- 
riably observed that a timid or vicious dam would 
stamp these peculiarities upon her foal. If she leered, 
and was ugly, the colt would do just as the mother did ; 
and who can endure a leering, biting, kicking colt in 
his stables ? Never breed from an ugly-tempered mare : 
for her colts will surely be like her ; only, in seven cases 
out of ten, worse. Depravity gets an earlier develop- 
ment in the child than it had in the parent. Lastly, 
under this head, see to it that the mare selected for the 
stud be in perfect health. 

Feel that there is no exception to this ; for every 
trace of disease in the blood of the dam will, from 
necessity, be. imparted to the foal. The embryo will, 
from the very beginning, be tainted with disease. All 
impurities lurking in the parent's system will settle in it. 
So true is this, that unhealthiness is often bred out of 
the dam into the foal. The colt is worthless ; but the 
mare is cured. The disease left the mother, and entered 
into the offspring, as is the case, often, in the human spe- 
cies. See to it that the mare is in perfect health when 
the horse has connection with her ; and, being healthy, 
then Iceep her so. See to it that she has dry, clean bed- 
ding, and a good stall. Do not over-feed, lest she accu- 
mulate fat. Idleness is bad. Give her due measure of 
exercise. More brood-mares are hurt by standing still 
than by over-work. My brood-mares do moderate 



THE DAM. 147 

work, in tlie team and on the road, from tlie time they 
are stinted to the horse until within a month or six 
weeks of foahng. This keeps them healthy and strong, 
and prevents them from laying on fat. A mare should 
be kept in an active, muscular condition during preg- 
nancy. The question is asked, whether it is wise to 
speed a brood-mare when in foal. I hold it is, provided 
it be done with caution. An occasional spurt of fifty 
rods or so does them good : it keeps their mood right ; 
that is, vivacious, sprightly, and full of healthy anima- 
tion. This mood they impart to the foal. The mater- 
nal disposition and spirit are impressed upon it ; for the 
mental state of the dam does have, beyond doubt, a vast 
influence upon the nervous organization of the foal. As 
the time of foaling approaches, let the mare rest. Exer- 
cise her only to the halter, if at all. Remove her from 
the narrow stall to the " foaling-room." This should be 
at least twelve by fifteen feet in size. The floor should 
be perfectly levels — this is essential, — in which she 
should have her liberty. Give her plenty of clean, dry 
bedding. If she is a gross feeder, and is inclined to stuff 
herself with it, put on a muzzle : an ordinary wire ox- 
muzzle will answer. As the day approaches on which 
the long-anticipated event is to occur, do not feed very 
high : especially reduce the amount of hay she is accus- 
tomed to have by one-half Feed Avith dry food, lest 
milk be produced too fast. If this be the case, and her 
bag cakes, wash it in cold water in which a quart of 
Indian meal has been soaked. This wash will reduce 



148 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

the fever. If necessary, milk away a considerable 
amount; but do not milk her upon the ground, but 
into a pan or basin. Some mares make milk too soon 
and too fast, but not ordinarily. The rule is, that the 
foal will be delivered within twenty-four hours from the 
time when milk, or a milky secretion, first shows itself 
on the teats. For a month previous to the date of 
foaling, handle her bag and teats, by which she will 
become familiar with your touch, and not dread the 
nose of the foal, as some mares, if not thus educated, do. 
When all is done that you can do, let her alone. Nature 
in parental exercises loves seclusion, and enjoys silence 
and secrecy. You should visit the stall from time to 
time ; but be very quiet in your movements, and do npt 
hang round the stall as some inquisitive grooms will. 
Treated in this discreet manner, ninety-nine mares out 
of a hundred will deliver their foals safely. When the 
foal is born, help it to its feet, and assist it to its mother. 
Be very gentle in your movements, and caress the dam. 
Some mares, especially young ones, are unnatural at 
first, and will not own the little thing ; but patience and 
kindness on your part will soon prevail. It is well to 
give the dam half a bucketful of warm gruel, made 
thin ; and, soon after this, a warm bran or oatmeal mash. 
If it is cold, and the foal shivers, wrap it in a warm 
flannel sheet ; and, in cases of emergency, give it a table- 
spoonful of wine, or brandy even ; but if brandy, be 
sure and dikite it well. In a few days the dam will 
have recovered from whatever organic disturbance she 



THE DAM. 149 

may have undergone, and be well. Nine or fifteen 
days after foaling, she should be stinted to the horse 
again ; for then she is quite sure to conceive again. 

This, in brief, is the order of procedure at this critical 
and often anxious period in the breeder's experience. 
The foal should be presented, in the act of delivery, 
head-foremost, and resting on the forward-legs as a dog 
lies often when asleep. This is the natural way ; and, 
when so presented, have no fears. If the head should 
be doubled under, or only one leg come forth, then 
man's help is needed. Having dipped his hand in warm 
water or oil, the groom should take hold of the part 
that is visible, and gently and very sloicly push the 
foal back until room is made for Nature to correct what 
is in fault. If the mare still labors in vain, and a more 
serious displacement has occurred, send for a veterinary 
surgeon ; or, if no such assistance is at hand, then do the 
best you can. Circumstances alter cases ; and no gen- 
eral written directions will avail. But if the mare is 
healthy, and has been well treated, the breeder has little 
to fear ; and the chances are a hundred to one that all 
will go well, and the foal be safely delivered. 

Now that the foal is born of known and noble par- 
entage and shapely, let the breeder " rejoice and be 
exceeding glad." The most desirable form of property, 
as I conceive, has been added to his estate. To his 
care and skill some man shall be indebted for a most 
useful servant and noble companion. By his enter- 
prise he has put the world under obligation to him, in 



150 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

that he has given to it an agent that it needed, and 
which, without his efforts, it would not have had. 
He deserves the benediction of mankind; for he has 
added another unit to the long column which represents 
the aggregate happiness of the race. At this point, the 
question of how the colt should be fed — whether, during 
the sucking-period, from the dam's milk alone ; or whe- 
ther this should be re-enforced by other sustenance, such 
as cow's milk, oatmeal-gruel, cracked oats, and the like; 
in short, what is called by many "the forcing-system," or 
the reverse — comes up for our consideration. As to 
this, several things, often lost sight of, must be taken into 
account. In the first place, it is agreed on all sides that 
the youngster should not starve : but this he often will 
do, unless other food than that which comes from the dam 
is given him ; because many dams are such poor milkers, 
that they do not yield the foal nearly enough to supply 
his evident wants. In such a case, the breeder must 
feed the young thing himself Cow's milk is good, when 
properly warmed and sweetened. Let it be prepared 
half blood-warm, and as sweet as the foal will drink it. 
Three weeks after birth, give some oatmeal, or cracked 
oats soaked to tenderness in water, or, better yet, in 
milk. Begin with a handful or two, and increase as the 
need is. If the mare is a very poor milker, the colt 
may need two quarts per day. The rule to govern this 
matter is, — heep the foal in liealtliy groiutli. As long 
as his stomach and bowels are in good condition, 
and he not gaining fat unnaturally, he is doing well; 



THE DAM. 151 

and your rule of feeding is, by that fact, approved. 
This, also, should be considered, — that nothing is so 
bad as to underfeed the colt; and according to my 
ideas and observation, taking the land through, ten 
colts suffer from want of needed food to one that 
suffers from overplus of it. The fact is, nothing is 
more erroneous than the opinion that prevails among 
farmers and the smaller breeders ; viz., that it makes 
little difference what a colt has to eat the first two 
years of his life, or whether he has much to eat at 
all. The truth is, that the first two years of his life 
decide the colt's entire future. Then it is that the 
length of his bones, the stomachic and intestinal de- 
velopment, the quality of the skin and coat, and the 
constitutional powers and vigor, are decided. Feed 
your colt well the first two years of his life, and, com- 
paratively speaking, you cannot spoil him afterwards: 
starve him during these years, and you cannot, on the 
other hand, ever make the lack thereby caused good. 
New England is, to-day, full of horses that have been 
ruined in this way. The moment you put your eyes 
upon them, you know that they were starved in youth. 
They are under-sized or ill-proportioned, bigger at one 
end than at the other, ungainly and weak. These are 
the animals that were compelled to "pick up their 
living " in the barn-yard with the cows and sheep, and 
came out each spring lousy and hide-bound. I know 
that a great hue and cry has been raised about "the 
forcing-system," and much said against giving oats and 



152 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

corn to colts. This is said to result in faulty bone- 
texture, and premature breaking-down of the constitu- 
tional powers. This is all humbug. I would not feed 
corn to a colt, because it is too heating and rank, and 
unfit, in the main, to give to any horse that is not used 
for heavy and slow work : but oats are the natural food, 
as one might say, of the horse ; and no colt will ever bq 
hurt by being fed liberally on them.- Colts, like grown 
horses, differ. One requires more food than another, and 
so no exact rule in feeding can be laid down as regards 
quantity ; but the quantity can be regulated by the con- 
dition of the colt, as in the case of older horses. Feed 
liberally the first two years, and you will never regret it. 
For the first month of the foal's life, great caution 
should be exercised to protect him from accidents, espe- 
cially in taking his exercise. A foal in good health, after 
he is a week old, is very playful, and even violent, in 
taking his exercise ; but his eyes are not as yet strong, 
nor accurate of sight. Especially is he unable to meas- 
ure distances correctly. I have seen a foal, two weeks 
old, run -full tilt against the side of a barn in broad day- 
light. The foal should be led, therefore, to a field level 
and smooth ; and, while the dam is held by the groom 
near the middle of the field, he should be allowed to 
exercise to his heart's content. In a few weeks he 
will have got experience, and he can run loose with the 
dam in the yard or pasture. The matter of his educa- 
tion must now be considered. 



CHAPTER VI. 

HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 

" With a glancing eye and curving mane, 
He neighs and champs on the bridle-rein : 
One spring, and his saddled back I press ; 
And ours is a common happiness. 
'Tis the rapture of motion ; a hurrying cloud 
When the loosened winds are breathing loud ; 
A shaft from the painted Indian's bow ; 
A bird, — in the pride of speed we go." 

Upon the proper education of the colt his entire use- 
fulness depends. Whether the young life shall prove a 
source of blessing or of trouble to man will be decided 
by the manner in which he is trained. The education 
of horses is a question, therefore, of supreme importance 
to the public, in the discussion of which every one is 
interested. We approach it with the profound desire 
to give such, and only such, suggestions as shall quicken 
profitable thought, and result in giving to young horses 
a better preparation for man's service than they now, 
on the average, receive. 

From the time the colt is born, he should be taught to 

153 



154 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

regard man, wliom he is afterwards to serve, as his pro- 
tector and friend. A human hand should first Hft him 
gently to his feet, and direct his little mouth to the 
source of maternal nourishment. With the human 
touch he should thus early be made to associate caresses 
and a supply for all his wants. Instead of yells and 
oaths and kicks and rude blows, he should hear only 
gentle, loving tones from the attendant's mouth, and pet- 
tings from his kindly palm. He should be taught to 
expect and watch for man's entrance to the stall or 
paddock where he is kept, as a dog waits for the coming 
of the master, as the season of joy and happiness. His 
little deer-like limbs should be handled, and he be taught 
to yield them promptly and without fear to the master's 
touch. In short, every thing that loving ingenuity can 
devise should be done to impress upon his mind thus 
early in life that man is his natural protector and friend, 
between whom and him an intimate companionship has 
been ordained by beneficent Nature, which insures that 
he shall be protected and cherished while he serves. 
Ah, me ! if colts could have such treatment, how few 
vicious horses we should see ! and how much greater, in 
the aggregate, would be the happiness which life would 
bring to them and man! I say, hajjpinessj for He who 
made all things hath given unto each creature, according 
to the class and order of its life, powers, and capacity 
for impressions, sufficient to make existence sweet, and 
fill the days of its life to overflowing with satisfactions. 
Especially is this true in respect to those animals 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 155 

SO endowed with high organizations and subtle forces, 
that they are able to apprehend and communicate pleas- 
ure ; and to no class does this fact apply with greater 
force than to that one, the members of which are evi- 
dently designed by the Creator to be both servant and 
companion to man. Kindness to animals is, as I under- 
stand it, therefore, a duty, an obligation, resting on 
every one with the force of a moral injunction. Indeed, 
God so ranks it in his Holy "Word, and gave it honora- 
ble place in his ancient legislation. The horse has a 
heart-claim upon us. The young colt is, in some sense, 
a member of the family, one of the owner's household, 
second in rank and dignity only to the children. So 
the Arab regards him. The beautiful young thing, 
with its shining coat and gazelle eyes and sprightly 
antics, so full of bounding but docile life, is literally his 
children's playmate. He shares their food, and often 
theu' sleeping-mat ; and a blow dealt him is as promptly 
resented as if it had been dealt the oldest son, for 
whose service in peace, and safety in the hour of battle, 
the young thing is being raised. 

When the colt is three weeks old, or thereabouts, he 
should be broken to the halter. And this should be 
done properly ; for this is the first act which brings his 
will and strength in opposition to man's, and should 
be so done as to convey clearly and decidedly man's 
superiority, and his inability to contend with him. 
Early impressions in the case of animals, as truly as in 
the case of children, are lasting ; and here and now, in 



156 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

this the first step in educating the colt, the impression 
should be indelibly stamped upon his mind that man is 
his master. And this can and should be done without 
violence or cruel force. I will explain my method of 
treatment, and the reason therefor. Inquire, then, what 
the groom or educator of the colt proposes to do. This 
evidently: He proposes, in the first place, to teach the 
colt to follow after or by the side ; that is, keep close 
to the one who is leading him by the halter. In the 
second place, he proposes to show the colt that he can- 
not successfully resist him ; that he is not so strong as a 
man. This lesson once taught the colt, this impression 
once fairly embedded in his mind, he will never after, 
in all his life, forget it. He will live and die with the 
idea in his head that man is stronger than he. And 
this is a most valuable lesson for a colt to learn, and 
to learn early : it saves much after-labor and many risks. 
Well, then, to the method : I put a head-halter on, made 
of soft material, so that it will not cut into his tender _ 
skin, and so made that the cheek-pieces will not draw 
into his eyes when he pulls back or struggles ; and when 
this is done quietly and gently, with pleasant words and 
kind caresses, I step out in front of him, and planting 
myself squarely, so that he shall not with all his efforts 
move me from my tracks, pull steadily on the halter, 
saying all the time, while the pressure on him is being 
increased, " Come, sir ; come ! " Sometimes the colt will 
come, yielding readily to the pressure ; in which case 
pat him kindly, so as to make him feel that he has done 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 157 

the right thing ; and then step forward, and repeat the 
slight pressure and the kind command. In many cases 
I have found this enough; and the colt was "halter- 
broke " before you knew it, as one might say. But more 
often, as soon as the little fellow felt the pressure of the 
pull upon the halter, alarmed, and vexed too, perhaps, 
at this (as he regards it) rude interference with his 
liberty, he would "set back" upon the halter, resisting 
the pressure with all his strength. When this is the 
case, stand firm: simply liold your own. Don't twitch 
him, or "yank" him about, or drag him forward vio- 
lently. Let Mm indl. Every moment is exhausting his 
strength, and increasing the pain he feels by reason of 
the halter-bands being drawn into him ; and, after a few 
seconds of resistance, discouraged, and unable to endure 
the pain his own effort is causing him, he will give 
one great wrench, rear up, and plunge toward you. 
The pressure and the pain are remitted ; and standing by 
your side, your arm over his moistened neck, and hand 
kindly patting him, he learns this sweet lesson, — that 
nearness to the one that is leading Mm means absence of 
jpain. This once understood by the colt, he is thoroughly 
halter-hroJce. With this he has also got another idea, — 
that you are stronger than he. Had you tied him to 
a post, and let him "pull it out" as the phrase is, he 
would have got no such idea: the post or tree, not 
man, would have been his master. Or, had you waited 
until he was a year or even six months old, he would 
have been stronger than you ; and he would have found 



158 THE PEEFECT HOKSE. 

it out too. In his first match against man, man would 
have been beaten. He, not you, would be the master 
at the halter-exercise at least ; and, while he might have 
followed you after a time, still you would have lost the 
opportunity of impressing him with his powerlessness 
when arrayed against man, which a wise educator will 
always seek to give to every colt he takes in hand. 
How unwise, viewed in this light, is that neglect to 
break colts to the halter even until they are three or 
four or even five years of age! "Children," says a 
thoughtful writer, " are made obedient before they are 
old enough to talk ; " and colts, it might be added, are 
made obedient to man, if properly educated, long before 
they are old enough to use in harness. Now and then, 
the colt, if he be of high spirit and lusty, will struggle 
long, and make a real "fight over it;" and, to avoid 
accidents in case that he should reel and fall, select 
for the school-ground a spot of soft greensward, free 
from stones, in order that his falls may be harmless to 
him. Be sure also, in case of falling, that you keep his 
head from striking the ground heavily ; which you can 
always do, because your hand is on the halter, by which 
it can be supported. This, in brief, is the manner in 
which I give my colts their first lesson in that course 
of education, which, when completed, has brought them 
to that degree of intelligence and docility at which they 
can be ridden without bridle or halter ; driven without 
reins, hold-backs, or breeching-band ; and find their joy 
in serving me, as I find mine in watching and. caring 
for them. 



HOW TO TKATN A COLT. 159 

When tlie foal is fifteen months old, I begin again to 
educate him. My object now is to get him thoroughly 
acquainted with the harness, and to teach him to stand 
quietly to be harnessed. To this end I dii'ect my 
efforts. If the colt is high-mettled or timid, great 
care must be exercised, and patience also. Most colts, 
remember, are timid : they are born so. Animals that 
are not armed with claws and teeth, with which to pro- 
tect themselves when attacked, are created by the all- 
wise Creator with the power to fly and the timid heart. 
The horse is constitutionally timid, then. It is natural 
for him to shrink fi'om strange, new sights, and jump 
at sudden movements and loud noises. Remember this 
when you come to harness your colt, and have patience. 
This is the order of procedure in my stable : The first 
day, I simply put the saddle without the back-strap on, 
buckling up the belly-band loosely. This is done many 
times, increasing the pressure of the band until I have it 
quite as tight as is the custom. Then I take the neck-col- 
lar, and put that over his head, first permitting him to 
smell of it, and touch it with his nose^ until he is entirely 
convinced that it is not calculated to hurt him. In like 
manner I continue adding part to part until the colt is 
fully harnessed. He is then allowed to stand with the 
harness on him until he has time to reflect upon the 
whole matter, and become accustomed to the unusual 
sensations by the pressure of the several parts of the 
harness against his sensitive skin ; for we must re- 
member that all this performance seems very queer 



160 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

to him, and startling. When he has fully composed 
his mind, and settled down into the conviction that 
every thing is all right and as it should be with him, 
he is then luaXked about., the harness still being on, 
and brought back every few minutes to the spot where 
he is to be unharnessed and gentled, and taught to stand 
as long a time as it would naturally take to remove the 
harness from him. Straps are loosened, buckle-tongues 
started, saddle and collar eased; in short, every thing 
done that would be done in unharnessing, save actually 
removing the harness. After doing this several times, 
this standing still while being unharnessed has come to 
be, in his mind, a part of the programme, and he under- 
stands it, and assents to it as such. Once learned, in the 
case of an intelligent horse, always learned ; for the horse 
is highly organized as to his memory, and in all his after- 
life he never will forget what you have so kindly taught 
him. This same process should be gone through with 
several times; indeed, in the case of a high-spirited, 
valuable colt, once or twice each day, for a week at 
least, because it is a most important part of his edu- 
cation. And you should remember that he is learning 
many lessons in one, including that greatest of all 
lessons a colt can learn; viz., to have confidence in, 
and yield his will to, man. Have great patience at 
this point of his education, even as a teacher must 
have when teaching an inattentive, and perhaps a 
dull child, the alphabet. Do not count the days you 
spend now : judge your success by the result, and pro- 



^^■'i\ . 




HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 161 

ceed step by step, advancing no faster tlian your 
pupiVs success justifies. Hurry here and now, and 
you will "make a nest of it," as the phrase is. During 
these harness-exercises^ as they might be called, accus- 
tom the colt to pressure against the breast and shoulder 
by tying long cords into either side of the collar ; and, 
by pulling gently, cause him to brace himself, as he will 
naturally do, against you. This gives him the idea of 
draiving loeigJit somewhere behind him ; and, by permit- 
ting him to pull you along, hb will soon grow to feel 
that he can jj?f/Z an?/ thing. By this you will, as it 
were, teach him to draw a wagon promptly from the 
start, before you have ever hitched him ahead of one. 
A colt so educated will never "balk," or refuse to 
" go " at the word, if the weight behind him is not 
beyond his strength; because the signal to go, and 
the habit of pulling, have been already taught him. 
At this point, also, he should be taught to hacJi. And 
here let me urge the trainer not to jndl him backward 
bodily by main force, as I have seen trainers and gentle- 
men do. " Bacldng " is to a horse lualldng backward.^ — 
an unnatural and awkward way for him to move. He 
was not made to go that way, and does not understand 
it ; and hence, very naturally, resists it. In order to un- 
derstand how awkward and incomprehensible it is to 
him, put a stick into your child's mouth that is some 
eighteen months old, say, and pull the little thing back- 
ward for a few steps. I pray you not to take offence at 

this illustration : I seek only to impress upon you the 
11 



162 THE PEKFECT HOESE. 

idea of patience and gentleness in handling one of 
the most sensitive, and at the same time one of the most 
abused, of God's creatures. Rightly managed, the colt 
can be taught to walk backward or side-wise, on all 
his feet or on his hind-feet only, or in any way possible 
for quadruped to move : nor will it require much time, 
either, to impart the lesson. In order to do this, when 
the bridle is on, step directly in front of him, and, with 
your hands grasping either rein, put a slight pressure 
upon his mouth, using the word " back," spoken clearly 
and distinctly (not loudly) at the same moment. He 
will naturally, even before he understands what you are 
at, move a little backward, in order to escape the slight 
pressure of the bit. This done, pat him and gentle him. 
Then grasp the lines, and do the same thing over again. 
He will soon associate the sound with the motion back- 
ward, and, even before the close of the first lesson, often, 
will readily comply with your request. Do not overdo 
the thing by keeping it up too long ; for, by so doing, you 
may exasperate him, and every after-effort to teach him 
will be the signal for a new fight between you and him. 
The second or third day, buckle in the lines ; and leading 
them through the breast-collar and breeching-straps, so 
that he cannot turn around and face you, take your posi- 
tion behind him, and repeat the lesson. In a few days 
your colt will hioiv what you wish him to do, and, I war- 
rant you, be ready to do it The pressure on the bit, 
after he has once associated the word "back" with the 
motion required, should accompany the command, and 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 163 

be instantly remitted on his compliance. No steady pidl 
should be put upon him. What you are after is, not to 
so develop the muscles of your arms that you can pull or 
drag him backward, but to teach your colt to back at the 
ivord of command', and no colt is fit for market until he 
will back any reasonable weight with the lines lying 
loose at a word from the driver. To teach a young 
horse to push hack a load is a longer process, because 
he does not know at first the proper position in which 
to put himself to perform this feat, nor are his back- 
muscles strong enough to do it ; but, by patience and 
kindness, all horses can be taught " to throw themselves 
into the breeching " with a force and directness of 
propulsion sufficient to move great loads. 

Perhaps I have "overrun my game," as hunters say 
of dogs that have left birds in the rear ; and I will stop, 
and beat back until we find one branch of my topic 
which perchance should have been mentioned sooner. I 
refer to the " bitting-process " as it is generally termed. 

It is astonishing how much nonsense and humbuggery 
trainers and grooms tolerate in connection with this 
point of horse-education. To see the bits that have 
been invented, and the " bitting-machines " that have 
been patented and sold, to serve this purpose, is enough 
to set the satirist on edge, and arouse the ire of the 
humane. The truth is, the only use of any "bitting- 
machine," if it is any thing more than a plain bar -bit 
in a bridle without blinkers or check-line, is to make 
money for some ignoramus, and torture the horse. The 



164 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

philosophy of bitting horses, upon which these "bit- 
ting-machines " are founded, is a fraud and folly. There 
is no more need for them in a trainer's yard than there 
is in a nursery. I make no limitation or modification of 
this statement at all. Their true name is "fool's ma- 
chine," and not " bitting-machine : " or more properly, 
if you wish to designate their use and result of it, call 
them "machines to spoil horses' mouths; " for this appel- 
lation precisely describes them. A man using one ought 
to be indicted before the common law of the country, 
which should at least be able to prevent such cruelty to 
animals. If any owner of a colt who reads this owns 
or uses one of these " bitting-machines," I urge him to 
burn it or bury it, as the most mischievous and hurtful 
thing that he can have about his stables. If I wished 
to make my colts " hogged-mouthed " and desperate 
pullers^ I would iise one of these "infernal machines," 
as I have no doubt the colts themselves call them, and 
as they deserve to be called by colts and men. I will 
show you how this plan of using these " machines " 
works. 

To begin with, a colt's mouth is almost as tender as 
a babe's when teething. The tongue, gums, lips, and 
bars of the mouth, are as sensitive as the reader's. By 
this very sensibility to pain. Nature has guaranteed man 
against any trouble in reining him or controlling him. 
He yields readily and easily to the slightest pressure. 
Indeed, nothing is more noticeable than this provision 
of Nature, by which the animal best adapted to be 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 165 

man's servant is easily made subservient to liis will. 
Now, such a mouth — so tender and sensitive — must 
not be rudely dealt with. It is easily cut and lacer- 
ated ; or, if not this, so indurated and hardened under 
pressure, that it loses its fine qualities, and grows com- 
paratively insensible. It is very easy to so lacerate the 
gums, tongue, and lips of a colt's mouth, as to destroy 
or deaden the nerves that interpret pressure to the 
brain; and, indeed, to remove the sense of feeling 
entirely, or next thing to it. When this sensibility, 
wisely provided by Nature, is lost, the horse becomes 
almost unmanageable ; because, the sense of feeling 
being removed, he does not know, nor has he any means 
of knowing, — seeing that the knowledge must reach him 
through the mouth, — what the driver wishes him to do. 
Perhaps one side only of the mouth becomes hardened, 
while the other remains sensitive ; in which case the 
horse feels the pressure of the bit only on one side of 
the mouth, and is of all horses the most vexatious 
to drive, from no fliult of his own, remember, but from 
his who "bitted" him. True it is, that it is necessary 
to harden the mouth of a colt somewhat, lest he should 
have what is called a "baby mouth; " that is, one too 
sensitive to the bit, so that he will not work up bravely 
against it as he should do when called upon to go at 
speed. But this hardening should be done slowly ; or, 
rather, it should not be done at all by the trainer ; but the 
colt shoidd do it himself^ as he will gradually do day by 
day in di'iving. He will learn to talce the hit himself, and 



166 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

do it according as he is able to do it, he himself being 
the judge. Now let us begin to hit a colt according to 
the machine method. The colt, never having been even 
broke to the halter, perhaps, is let out into a yard, the 
" machine " -strapped on to his back, the bit of iron or 
steel jammed into his mouth, the check-rein adjusted, 
and the colt's head drawn suddenly np into the air, 
and the trainer stands one side. The colt, of course, 
struggles and rears and plunges. He becomes enraged, 
and " fights the bit : " foam drops from his lijDS ; pretty 
soon it is stained with streahings of blood. The iron 
bit, you see, as he "fought it," has grated over the 
young teeth, cut into the tender tongue, and lacerated 
the gums and lips. I have seen all this done (it is no 
fancy sketch), — seen blood come in less than two 
minutes after the " bitting-machine " was adjusted. 
Now, what has been done ? Several things, I reply. 
First, iinnecessarij iKiin has been caused an innocent and 
harmless creature : that alone is enough to condemn 
any "machine" ever invented. Secondly, the colt's 
mouth has been spoiled until the lacerated gums and 
lips and tongue can heed. Thirdly, the colt's temper 
has been soured, and no useful knowledge imparted. 
These truths are self-evident. But this is not all. The 
" machine," instead of being removed, is left on ; the 
trainer goes to his work in the field, or to drive ; and 
the colt is left to "fight it out." Now, examine the 
matter a little. What is the true position of things ? 
This, I respond : The colt is in pain. His head is 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 167 

drawu up to an unnatural height ; his neck, pulled into 
an angle both awkward and painful, aches with exquisite 
suffering. To appreciate the agony the young thing en- 
dures, let some one take hold of your own head, and 
draw it up and backward as high and as far as the 
bone-structure and muscles will permit, and compel you 
to stand with it in that position even for five minutes. 
In this way you will get some idea of "bitting-ma- 
chines," and the actual torture which colts experience 
while being " bitted " by them. 

But the evil of this system is not yet fully stated. 
The colt, with his head drawn up and back, is left in the 
yard, as I have said, while the trainer goes to his work 
or to drive. Perhaps he stands an hour ; perhaps five 
hours ; very likely all day. For the first few minutes he 
strives to keep his head up, and the bit loose in his 
mouth, because it pains him ; but pretty soon the 
muscles of his neck begin to ache. They were never 
made to hold up the head in that style, and are actually 
unable to do it for any considerable length of time. 
Soon the head sags : the pain in the overtasked muscles 
of the neck is greater even than that caused by the 
pressure of the bit. It is, you see, with the colt, a 
choice between two pains. Little by little, the head 
droops ; heavier and heavier the weight of it is laid 
upon the bit ; and, in the course of an hour or two, the 
colt stands weary and stolid, the weight of his head and 
neck laid solidly down upon the bit. The colt is 
being taucjlit^ you see, to " take the bit " with a ven- 



168 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

geance. He is actually being educated to "hog on the 
bit," and be a puller. No method of bitting can be 
more vicious and villanous than this, inflicting, as it 
does, torture on the innocent victim, and, in not a few 
cases, actually putting the animal beyond the reach of 
future betterment. 

The true way to bit a colt is, not to bit him at all ; 
that is, let him bit himself. When my colts are one 
year old, I begin to teach them to hold a bit in their 
mouth. The bit is of pine, some half-inch in diameter, 
and five inches in length. This piece of soft wood is 
held in the mouth by a cord tied to either end, and 
passing over the head, back of the ears. The colt loves 
to have this in his mouth, because it enables him to 
bring forward the teething-process. He will bite it, 
and work it over in his mouth, and enjoy it hugely. 
He will welcome it, and will actually reach out and 
open his mouth for it as a trained horse will for the bit. 
After a few days you can tie strings, making miniature 
reins to this bit, and teach the colt the proper use of it. 
When this is done, he is ready for the regular steel 
bit. Put your bridle on with a leather bit, large and 
pliant; throw your check-line, if your bridle has one 
attached, into the pig-sty ; get into your wagon, and 
diive off. This is all the "bitting" a colt needs. Treat- 
ed in this way, he will have a lively, yielding, sensa- 
tional mouth. He will take the bit bravely when work- 
ing up to his speed, but yield readily to the driver's 
will. A horse bitted in this sensible way can be diiven 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 169 

a forty-clip with the lines held in one hand, or be lifted 
over a five-barred gate with the strength of a single 
wrist. If you don't believe it, try it, and see. Many 
people prefer to put the colt beside an older horse, and 
let him take the first dozen drives on the road in double 
harness : and to this method I see no serious objection ; 
although, for myself, I do not favor it. My colts are all 
taught to go single first, and thoroughly taught at that ; 
and I hold that this is the better way. But, if you pre- 
fer the other method, be sure that the horse beside 
which the colt is hitched is in every respect reliable and 
well instructed ; because the colt will catch at, and be 
sure to imitate, any vice or fault in the older horse. Do 
not select a lazy, slow-moving horse for the service, 
but rather a quick-moving animal, lively, but amiable. 
A colt naturally starts quickly, and moves sprightly ; and 
a slow-starting, slow-moving brute by his side will irritate 
him. The older horse should be quick enough to start 
the load himself, and keep it moving, so that the colt shall 
not be unduly fretted and chafed : if not, the younger 
horse has to start and draw the whole weight ; and in 
that case his temper will get up, and you will have a 
fracas. I know that some breakers love to get into a 
fight with a colt, and " take the starch out of him ; " 
but this is villanous conduct, and has neither necessity 
nor reason to justify it. The true way is to avoid these 
" fights " with the animal you are teaching ; and, by 
the exercise of patience and kindness, give him time to 
understand what is wanted of him, and make him love 



170 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

to do it. Remember that some colts are slow-witted, 
and easily confused ; and a single blow or yell, on the 
part of the trainer, may throw him into a state of 
temporary fear or exasperation, which totally unfits him 
to understand even the simplest command. And here 
let me urge upon the reader who has a colt, or colts, to 
teach, that, if he has the habit of speaking sharply and 
loudly, he correct himself of it at once. Colts are 
timid, high-spirited things, if they are worth any thing ; 
and he who manages them should be of quiet habits, 
and have a low, pleasant-toned voice. The trainer that 
yells stands in the same category as the driver in a 
public race who screams and whoops like a Comanche 
Indian when coming down the home-stretch : the one 
should be banished the track, and the other turned out 
of the gentleman's stables. But to return. My method 
of educatins: a colt to the harness and was'on is to edu- 
cate him singly, by himself; and this education should 
begin very early. When the colt is • twelve or four- 
teen months old, begin to put the harness on him. In 
a few weeks he is accustomed to it, and ready for the 
shafts. But, in doing this, do not be in a hurry Give 
the youngster time to get thoroughly acquainted with 
every strap and buckle, as it were. Let him see every 
thing, and smell every thing. The sense of sight, smell, 
and touch, is the great avenue of knowledge to the 
horse, especially the last two. The ear and eye give 
the alarm. These two organs stand, as it were, on 
picket for the animal's safety. But, if your horse is 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 171 

friglitened at any thing, let him smell and touch it, and 
he will fear no longer. 

If your colt is afraid of your harness as it comes 
rustling out of the harness-room, let him touch it with 
his nose, and smell of it a few times, and he will 
soon understand that it will not hurt him. If he is 
inclined to kick or jump if the breeching-band or any 
strap hits his hams or legs, by gently rubbing them 
against the sensitive places he will soon become indif- 
ferent to them. By the time the colt is two years 
of age, or even less, he should be educated to go 
between the shafts, either forward or backward, and be 
thoroughly familiar with the harness and vehicle and 
ordinary road-service. Instructed at this early age, he 
will never forget the lessons of obedience and sub- 
mission taught, but be ready at any future time to be 
put to work, without any considerable trouble to the 
owner or purchaser. 

In case your colt is a vicious one, I have no advice 
to give, unless it be to kill him. There is no need 
that a vicious colt should ever be raised; and I hold 
that it is a sin against the beneficent order of nature 
for a man to raise an animal whose very existence 
imperils other existences. The public would regard 
a man insane who spent time and money in stock- 
ing his garden-plot with a superior kind of thorns: 
they would say that it was an abuse of nature, and a 
sinful waste of opportunity. What shall we say, then, 
to the man who goes to work, year after year, and 



172 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

deliberately fills liis stalls with vicious colts ? Logically, 
the same answer would be returned; and this is the 
way that every right-minded breeder regards it. Neither 
beauty nor speed in a horse can make amends for a 
vicious temper; because a vicious temper in a horse 
imperils human life, and wdiatever does this is by that 
fact condemned. And so I say, that no vicious colt is 
worth the breaking. He is unfit for the purposes of 
civilization. He should be treated as any other ferocious 
and dangerous animal should be treated, — killed at 
sight. But some colts, while they are not actually 
vicious, are not truly amiable. They represent an inter- 
mediate class, lying between the really docile and the 
ungovernable ; and are, hence, objects of interest to all 
owners and trainers. It is doubtful if any general rule 
or rules can be made to apply to this class of animals, 
because their faults and vices are not the same, but indi- 
vidual, differing in different cases. Still I Avill glance at 
some of the more prominent failings or vices of this 
class of animals, and suggest, so far as one can without 
a personal knowledge of each subject, the proper method 
of treatment. 

First of all, we must observe this principle, — that pun- 
ishment alone can never eradicate viciousness, especially 
if the subject of it has a high-spirited organization. 
Whipping alone never reformed a bad child. The lash 
never makes a vicious colt amiable. It may change the 
mode or the time of its manifestation ; but the inherent 
ugliness will, seizing some favorable moment, break 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 173 

forth. This principle being borne in mind bj the 
trainer, if he be a man of judgment, will supply him 
with a good guide in his educational efforts. If the 
whip is ever used, — and I think it can be with profit at 
times, — let the blow be sudden and sharp, and rarely 
repeated. Beating and pummelling a colt never does 
good, and rarely, if ever, fails to work lasting mischief. 
One of the meanest tricks that a colt can fall into is that 
of running backwards, which the English call "jibbing." 
Your colt is harnessed, and safely led out of the car- 
riage-house or yard. You mount the seat, and tell him 
to go ahead. This he refuses to do. He looks round at 
you with deliberate wilfulness in his eye, as much as to 
say, " I rather think I shall do about as I'm a mind to in 
this business." You lift the whip from the socket, tap 
him gently over the rump, and tell him to go ahead. 
Instead of this, he begins to go backward. I have seen 
a man work two hours in a vain endeavor to make his 
colt go forward. The colt was by no means vicious ; 
and this habit of running backward, or jibbing, was the 
only bad one that he had. But this threatened to mar, 
if not utterly thwart, the trainer's endeavor. Day after 
day, the colt was tried. He was pulled forward by 
main strength; the whip was used judiciously; he was 
coaxed ; he was threatened : but it was literally no go. 
At last the trainer harnessed him into a common road- 
sulky, and led him out into a large field free from all 
obstruction ; and placing himself behind the sulky, with 
the reins held tightly in his hands, he gave the signal 



174 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

for the colt to move. Move he did, but backward, not 
forward. When the colt began to run backward, the 
trainer, instead of seeking to check him, allowed him 
the fullest freedom of action, simpty keeping one line a 
little tauter than the other, so that the colt should run 
backward, not in a straight line, but in a curve. When 
the circle was nearly complete, the colt was ready to 
stop, his eyes filled with the look of intense and wilful 
satisfaction. But his trainer did not propose to let him 
stop. He put a strong and steady pressure upon the bit, 
compelling the colt, against his will, to keep the back- 
ward movement. This had the desired effect. By the 
time the colt had been spun rapidly twice around that 
circle, he had had enough of it. He was literally giddy ; 
so much so, that he could barely stand. This cured 
him: he had been caught in his own trap. The trainer 
mounted the seat, patted him on the haunches, and 
called on him pleasantly to go ahead. From that day 
he gave no trouble : he was completely cured. I have 
known this tried in many cases; and each time the 
result^ was satisfactory. 

Another mean habit is that of lying down in the har- 
ness. Some colts will lie down almost as soon as you 
have them harnessed. Sometimes a blow from the whip, 
delivered low down along the side, quick and sharp, will 
bring them up with a spring. If one or two blows do 
not answer, the whip is of no use : you will only torture 
and scar your colt needlessly. The better way is to 
"beat him at his own trade," as the saying is. When 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 175 

he lies down, get upon his head and heck, and make him 
stay there. After five or ten minutes, he will begin to 
grow uneasy. He won't know quite what to make of it. 
Soon he will feel the uncomfortableness of his position. 
He will make an effort to rise. Now is your time : keep 
him down. Down with his head flat to the ground, and 
hold it there. It is no boy's play ; but you can do it if 
you are determined, and reasonably strong. Only don't 
let the job out to a small boy ; for the job is a big one at 
times, and needs a quick eye, a stout hand, and a strong 
back. Watch the colt, and don't let him up as long as 
he is rebellious, if you hold him there all day, and the 
following night at that ! Let him sweat and struggle : 
he is learning two valuable lessons, — the first of which 
is, that it does not pay to lie down in the harness; 
and the second is, that man is stronger than he. This 
latter point includes almost every thing in relation to 
the training of a certain class of horses. Until they 
are taught this idea, they are utterly unmanageable : 
you can make no progress in their education. But let 
them once learn that they are not the masters, but are 
as nothing in the hand of the trainer, and the battle is 
won : all that is needed follows naturally and easily. 
Now, there is no position which gives man such absolute 
command and mastery over a colt as when he has his 
knees on his neck, and his hands gripped into the bridle- 
pieces. Thus situated, man is absolutely " master of the 
situation ; " and I have often thought that it was a very 
good idea to have a colt of rather vicious temper lie 



176 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

down once, in order that he might learn how powerless he 
is in the hands of man. When a colt gives up, the man 
at his head will easily perceive it. The hot blaze and 
mad glitter will leave the eye ; the muscles will relax 
their tension ; the neck will become limp ; and the whole 
body, losing its rigidity, will lie along the earth as if it 
had no thought of rising, and would never rise. This 
is the staire of exhaustion and submission. The colt's 
rampant spirit is cowed, and his pride humbled. His 
conceit is taken out of him. He has been beaten by 
his own weapons, and knows it He will never trouble 
you again in that way. As to the time it takes to 
bring a colt to this conviction, there is no precise limit. 
Some colts will "give it up" in twenty minutes ; some 
in sixty ; and I have known colts hold out for three 
hours. But, whether it takes longer or shorter, carry 
the thing through. Believe me, you cannot spend your 
time better. 

Another fault, or rather habit, — for it is often only the 
result of habit, and no result or proof of viciousness, — is 
kicking. We should remember that a colt kicks natii- 
rally ; that is, he does it in self-defence, and also in the 
way of play. It is, as it were, his birthright, by which he 
expresses his physical spirits, and defends himself The 
fact is, no colt should ever be put between the shaft 
without a kicldng-strap j that is, a strap buckled to either 
shaft, and passed over the haunches in such a way as to 
make it impossible for him to get his heels over the 
cross-tree. This is the only safe way to pursue. Gen- 



HOW TO TEADsr A COLT. 177 

crally speaking, a slight twitcli on the reins, just as he 
is on the point of "lifting," will check the effort: but 
it needs a quick eye and hand to catch the colt soon 
enough to keep his heels out of the dashboard ; and not 
over two in ten men would be sure to do it. But, by 
using the kicking-strap, all danger and risk are averted ; 
and therefore I invariably insist on it in educating my 
colts. After two or three attempts to " lift^^'' the 
youngster finds he cannot ; and is thereby, as the Irish- 
man said, "cured of the disease before he had it." In 
the case of colts, as of men, an "ounce of prevention is 
worth a pound of cure." 

As to the matter of "balking," no general direction 
can be given, or rule established. If the education of 
the colt has been conducted in accordance with the 
principles I have in previous pages laid down, he will 
not halk. Balking on the part of colts is, for the most 
part, the result of the trainer's ignorance or passion. 
Yelling and whipping on the part of the trainer or 
driver, over-loading, sore shoulders, or ill-fitting collars, — 
these are the causes that make horses balk. But if you 
have a horse or colt that balks, while I cannot, without 
a personal knowledge of the subject, tell you what to 
do, I can tell you what not to do, — nevey^ wliip. If he 
won't go, let him stand still and think it over. He 
will very often think better of it, and after a few mo- 
ments' reflection, and a few tosses of his head, go on of 
his own accord. Or, if this does not answer, get out 
of the wagon and pat him, and talk to him kindly. A 

12 



178 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

horse is very susceptible to kindness ; and I have known 
more than one quite vicious horse gentled into good 
behavior by a few pats from a lady's gloved hand on 
the moist neck and veined muzzle. Sometimes it is 
well to loosen a strap or start a buckle. I have known 
the mere act of unchecking and rechecking the animal 
answer the purpose. It took his attention off in another 
direction, you see, changed the current of his thought, 
and broke up his purpose and determination to resist. 
For this same reason, an apple, or a bunch of grass 
from the roadside, or a handful of oats, or a few ker- 
nels of corn, will often accomplish what an hour of 
beating could never effect. The truth is, a man must 
govern himself before he can hope to govern lower 
animals. A man flushed with passion, his brain charged 
with heated blood, and eyes blazing with rage, is not 
in a condition to think clearly ; and it is just this tliink- 
ing clearly that is, above all else, needed in directing and 
controlling horses. Hence it is, that contact with horses, 
and an actual experience in teaching them, is one of 
the finest disciplines a man can have. He grows to 
love the colt he is teaching; and no nature is utterly 
depraved in which is going on the exercise of affection, 
no matter how humble the object of it may be. His 
employment makes it necessary for him to think ; and 
this keeps intellect, which might otherwise have no 
development, alive. The language of the stable is not, 
as many pious and ignorant people imagine, all slang. 
Care and anxiety are felt in the groom's room, and con- 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 179 

sultations held upon the issue of which the health and 
safety of valuable property depend. Plans are formed, 
and methods of procedure adopted, upon which fame, 
and vast sums of money, come and go. Faults of na- 
ture, and errors of education and practice, are corrected ; 
and the trainer discovers, that, in schooling God's crea- 
tures, he is being schooled himself Thus, as in all 
other branches of honorable industry, the horseman 
discovers that he is the point from which one current 
goes forth, and another enters in. He bestows, and he 
receives ; he educates, and is educated ; and the life 
which so many thoughtless people despise, closes, as in 
the case of Hiram Woodruff, — the upright in heart 
and act, — with honor, and a fame which can fail only 
when kindness toward animals, and integrity among 
men, are regarded as of no account. 

It is, as I have said, impossible for a writer to lay 
down rules adequate for the trainer's guidance and 
direction in the management of vicious or irritable colts ; 
for very likely no two cases require the same treat- 
ment. These points may, however, be made : Keep your 
temper. No matter how provoked : put a severe curb 
upon the rising of passion. A cool head, and calm and 
steady nerves, with a quick eye, will go far towards 
success in conflicts with even the most irritating animals. 
Moreover, never forget that the law of kindness is 
stronger in its influence on the animal creation than the 
law of force. Remember this also : Do not make much 
noise when having a contest with a colt. Say little to 



180 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

him, and nothing to any one else. Do not be shouting, 
" Get up ! " " Whoa ! " " Look out there ! " and the like. 
Silence is a great virtue in a horse- trainer. A low- 
voiced groom is worth his weight in gold about the 
stables. A horse cannot understand sounds like a > hu- 
man being ; and the less said to him, for the most part, 
the better. A few sounds, of course, are necessary; the 
word "whoa" being one of these. This word should 
mean sfoj) : it should never mean any thing else in the 
colt's ears. It should be pronounced in a quick, sharp, 
imperative tone. It should never be drawled out or 
prolonged, as if there were a dozen a's, instead of one, 
after the o, as is often the case. WJioa means sfoj?, as I 
have said. When a colt hears it, he should stop, and stop 
in his tracks too. It is not a word to be frequently used, 
therefore, but to be saved for emergencies; as when 
some strap or bolt gives way, a bit parts in the mouth, or 
an upset occurs. At such a time you can say "TT^/«oa/" 
and if it has always meant stop to your horse, if he 
was broken to so understand it when young, he will so 
understand it then, and stop ; thereby saving, perhaps, 
your limbs, or even life. The common fault is to use the 
word to steady the horse when speeding, or to slow him 
up. For this purpose take some other word or words ; 
as, "Steady, boy; steady!" but let the word "whoa" 
mean but one thing to your horse ; viz., to stop, and stop 
instantly. The horse of ordinary intelligence can be 
made to understand this with very little trouble, and 
in less than a dozen lessons. I have seen horses trained 



HOW TO TEAIN A COLT. 181 

in less than a week's time, so that, when streaming round 
the exercise-lot at a swinging gait, they would stop at 
the word sent forth from the mouth of the trainer, so 
quickly as to actually throw themselves upon their 
haunches. The method is simple. Put your bridle on 
to your colt, buckle in a pair of long lines, and, taking 
position in the rear, start him along. After he has taken 
a few steps, say " Whoa ! " and at the same time give him 
a slight twitch on the bit sufficient to cause him to stop. 
Do not be rude or harsh, but 'gentle and firm. Start 
him now again, and repeat the sound and the move- 
ment of the hand. The colt will soon catch the idea, 
and learn what the sound means. Then you can go on, 
and teach him that it not only means stop^ but that it 
means to stop instanthj. A few days of this simple 
treatment will suffice to teach him thoroughly the 
lesson, which, when well learned, he never forgets, and 
the real value of which can scarcely be overestimated. 
If the colt is worth five hundred dollars when broken 
in the ordinary way, he is certainly worth six hundred 
when instructed fully in the manner I have set forth. 
Any sensible man, in purchasing a horse for family ser- 
vice or for fast driving on the road, will gladly pay a 
hundred dollars extra if the breeder can show to him 
that the colt will stop short in his tracks at the word ; 
for he sees, that, amid even the average risks and hazards 
of driving, such a power over the animal may prove of 
supreme importance. 

Next to this understanding, on the part of the colt, 



182 THE PEEFECT HOESE. . 

of the significance of the word "whoa," is indifference 
to pressure upon the hams and legs from behind. So 
important is this, that I hold that the education of no 
colt is really completed until he can be driven on or- 
dinary roads without breeching or hold-backs. He 
should be taught to be utterly fearless and indifferent 
to the wagon coming suddenly upon him from behind. 
So far as the human mind may predict, my own life has 
been certainly saved once, because the horses I was 
di'iving, when the pole snapped half way down a moun- 
tain-side, had been taught these two supreme virtues, 
— to stop at the word "whoa," and to hold the wagon 
back with their haunches. It is astonishing to me that 
two habits of obedience so essential as these, and so 
easily inculcated, should not be regarded as actually in- 
dispensable. I have pointed out the process of teaching 
a colt to stop at the word. I will now suggest my 
method of teaching horses not to fear when the wagon 
comes suddenly against them. I take the horse, and, 
backing him between the shafts, continue to back him 
slowly and easily until his hams come in contact with 
the whiffletree. He may start at first; but, after a 
few trials, he becomes absolutely indifferent to it. 
Then, calling the groom to the head of the horse, I 
station myself behind the wagon or carriage, and, 
speaking kindly and soothingly to the horse, push it 
slowly forward until it comes against him. All this 
is done quietly, remember, and so gently as neither 
to hurt nor alarm the animal. After a few trials, the 



HOW TO TEAIN A COLT. 183- 

horse becomes accustomed to it, and will actually brace 
himself against your pressure. This is what you have 
been after. He has caught the idea, and will hence- 
forth enter heartily into your plan. In a few days 
he will even bear pain in resisting your efforts, and 
not flinch, and adjust himself in such a way as to re- 
ceive the pressure at the best angle of resistance. You 
can now hitch him into your wagon, and leave the 
breeching and hold-backs at home. After two months 
of training, I have driven a colt, which was not at all 
amiable by nature, for miles on a country -road, where 
the hills, while they were not long, were steep, with 
nothing whatever to assist him in holding back the 
wagon. While I would not advise any to pursue this 
course, I still declare my belief that the majority of 
colts could be easily trained to stand this test; and I 
urge all trainers to so educate the animals in their 
charge, that the breaking of a single strap, the snapping 
of a bolt, or even the falling-off of a nut, shall not en- 
danger the lives of those who are riding trustingly 
behind. 

I have now gone over the matter of horse-educa- 
tion so far as is necessary to fit him for the average 
public use. We began with him when he stood at his 
mother's side, and, by gradual processes of instruction, 
brought him up through the several grades of knowl- 
edge of and familiarity with men and things, until he has 
become serviceable to man. He who brings a colt up 
in this way is a public benefactor. It may be, that, so 



184 "THE PERFECT HOESE. 

far as ho is concerned, selfishness supplied the actual 
motive at every stage of the proceeding ; but, never- 
theless, selfishness cannot appropriate the result. The 
motive was not generous ; but the result is noble. He 
has ministered to the enjoyment of many ; he has added 
to the possibilities of social intercourse and domestic 
happiness. He will be paid for his labor in dollars; 
but the profit which he has brought to the world can- 
not be estimated in currency. Commerce will add 
another sail to her squadron, the rail-car have a heavier 
freight, the social room a fuller company, and the house 
of God a larger audience, because of the animal that he 
has so successfully raised and trained for human use. 

We will now pass on to consider the higher educa- 
tion of the horse : by which I mean those processes and 
methods of proceeding by which the more characteris- 
tic traits of his nature, chiefest among which is speed, 
are brought forward, under wise management, to per- 
fection. Let us, therefore, inquire how a colt should be 
treated in order to develop in him the highest degree 
of* speed. We will take an animal at two years of age, 
let us say, and inquire into the best method of cultivat- 
ing the faculty and power of rapid motion. 

The first thing to attend to, be it observed by all, -is 
the lungs. Lung-power is the best kind of power a 
horse can possibly have, because it alone can make 
other kinds of power of avail. Muscular power is very 
desirable ; but muscles can never bring a horse to the 
wire in time, unless his lungs are good. Nervous force 



HOW TO TEAIN A COLT. 185 

is excellent ; but no amount of vital energy will hold a 
horse up through the wear and tear of a four-mile race. 
A perfect bone-structure is admirable; but what are 
bones, if the breathing-apparatus is inadequate? The 
first point, therefore, I say, that a breeder or owner of a 
likely colt should consider, is this matter of lung- devel- 
opment. The great question with him should be, ''How 
can I expand and enlarge his lungs ? " Still, although 
every reader will see at a glance the vital significance 
of this point, it is, I presume, a branch of horse-culture 
to which less attention is paid than any other. You 
can get books by the score on the " Foot," on the " Bone- 
Structure," on "Muscular Development," on almost 
every possible subject, relating to the horse, about 
which a book could be made, or a discussion started ; 
but when you go to the bookseller's to inquire for books 
telling you how to build up the lung-poiuer of a horse, 
you can find no such book for sale! Our limits do 
not allow us to treat of this most important subject at 
length ; and we can only hope to call attention to it, and 
make, in a plain, simple way, a few suggestions which 
may prove of value to the breeder and trainer. 

To begin with, then, let it be remarked that colts 
need a great deal of exercise. By nature they were 
made for rapid movement. Like young birds, they 
develop in motion. The number of miles a colt of high 
breeding, and in good condition, will go when at pas- 
ture each day, is something surprising. I will not 
mention my estimate, because no one would believe it 



186 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

to be correct : and I only ask you to watcli a colt 
twenty-four hours, and make your own estimate; and, 
if you are not astonished, I shall be. Now, no sensible 
man will turn a colt of fine promise loose in the pasture 
after the second year ; and I do not after the first. A 
valuable colt is too valuable to risk in that foolish man- 
ner, especially if he is a horse-colt. He should be 
kept in a large, roomy stall, where he can be attended 
to and trained day by day. But do not forget his 
need of daily exercise. Do not think that a box-stall 
will sufl&ce. You might as well teach an eaglet to fly 
in a large cage . as to give the needed discipline to a 
colt's legs, heart, and lungs in a box-stall. Many 
most promising youngsters are fatally checkfed in 
the development of their powers by lack of needed 
exercise in their second and third years. I hold that 
a colt needs a great deal of exercise ; not to the 
halter, which is good for nothing but to sweat out a 
lazy groom, but sharp, quick exercise, in the taking 
of which every muscle is brought into play, every joint 
tested, and every vein, however small, swelled taut with 
rapid blood, as is the case when allowed the lil:)erty 
of hill and plain, and to follow the promptings of 
nature. Ah, me ! how full of bounding life the 
youngsters are, when in a drove of twenty, heads up- 
lifted and tails erect, their long hair streaming straight 
out behind, they charge in thundering column across 
the shaking field ! See how they tear along with hoofs 
that spurn the plain, with changeful gait, and action free 



HOW TO TEAIN A COLT. 187 

and swift as a swallow's ! See tliat sorrel trot ! Look 
at his stride ! How he opens out ! Ha ! did you see the 
chestnut catch his step?* Good heavens! how that 
brown one runs ! Ho! here, boys; here! Now look and 
see them come strung out m line, heads towards us, ears 
pricked, and eyes on fire! Hi, there! hi, there! Now 
see them swoop to the left, and go tearing away like 
mad, muzzles straight out, and ears laid back, until they 
pass the ridge, and the valley catches them from our 
sight! Circus! — there never was such a circus as that! 
It's enough to stir the blood in the veins of a deacon ! 

It is the exercise-lot, and the exercise-lot alone, that 
can take the place and make good the absence of na- 
ture's liberty. In it the colt can run and jump and 
race, and double this way and that, and check himself, 
as only a colt can when in full career, to his heart's 
content. Every owner of a colt should have an exer- 
cise-lot. It costs little to make one, and will pay for 
itself fifty times over in two years. Let it be from ten 
to fifteen rods long, and from eight to ten rods wide. 
The ground should be level, ploughed, and raked free 
of cobbles. It should be fenced with boards not wider 
than two inches apart, and at least seven feet in height. 
The posts should be on the outer side, so that the in- 
side may be flush, with no projection against which the 
colt can strike. Take a shovel, and heave up a slight 
bank around the inner side, like to what the ring-master 
of the circus does, that his horses may get a foot-support 
as they circle round. Now build you a raised platform 



188 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

at one end of the ground, outside the fence, for your 
visitors to occupy during the exhibition, and your job 
is done. Wlien you have such an exercise-ground 
on your place, you have added a most valuable posses- 
sion to your property. If you have colts to sell, such 
an exercise-ground is indispensable. It will enable you 
to get at least twenty per cent more for your stock, and 
sell them several years sooner, because purchasers in 
search of likely young horses can see, the first time a 
colt goes around the yard, about what he is. His 
action, which could in no other way be shown so well, 
is seen ; and a bid is at once made on him. With good 
stock, and a good exercise-lot in which to exhibit them, 
a breeder's stable will never be choked up with unsold 
stuff ; nor will his purse ever be empty. 

But the exercise-ground has a higher use than this. 
In every stable are several colts too good to sell as year- 
lings. Their pedigree and promise give them a specu- 
lative and prospective value so great, that the breeder 
or owner cannot afford to sell them until they are more 
developed ; because the prospect is, that, when devel- 
oped, they will reach a much more remunerative figure. 
Now, these are the colts for which the exercise-lot is 
peculiarly adapted : indeed, it is indispensable to then- 
welfare. They are too valuable to turn out Avith the 
drove ; they are too valuable to sell : wisdom says, 
"Keep them a while longer, and develop them." But 
this development can only come by exercise, and that 
kind and class of exercise which can be had nowhere 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 189 

save in the exercise-lot. The reason is, that in no other 
place can they get that rapidity and variety of movement 
absolutely indispensable to their growth, health, and 
vigor. The first thing, as I have said, to which to pay 
attention, is the development of the lungs. The 
lungs must, in the first place, be built up in size. 
The larger the bellows, the stronger the blast. Large 
lungs — as large as nature can be made to grow — is 
what every horse kept for speed wants. Secondly, 
the lungs must be of fine texture. The Iung-SM&- 
stance must be of excellent quality, — elastic and tough ; 
able to bear the strain of inflation and the shock 
of collapse without pain or injury when the horse, on 
a hot, muggy day, comes struggling to the judges' 
stand with the driver's voice in his ear, and the driver's 
whip laid at every stride across his rump. It is lungs that 
win on such a day and race. Bone-structure won't do 
it ; muscles won't do it ; nervous energy won't do it : 
lungs, and lungs alone, win in such contests. If you 
would realize the force of this, try a short race yourself 
Start off and run forty or sixty rods even at your 
sharpest jump : very likely, before you have gone half 
that distance, you will begin to discover where your 
lungs lie, and the value of tuincl Now, what was it that 
gave out, and made you stop so suddenly ? " Pain 
in my side, shortness of breath," you reply. Exactly. 
Your leg-bones were all right ; your feet didn't pain 
you ; your muscles could have carried you forward 
a mile ; your determination was strong enough : but 



190 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

your wind gave out You see now tlie relation of 
lungs to speed. Now, reader, I put the question to you, 
If you have a fine colt, what are you striving to do with 
him? Ten to one your anxiety is to build up his bone- 
substance, develop his muscles, restrain his nervousness, 
educate him to go squarely, keep his blood in a good 
condition. All these points you have paid the closest 
attention to; but the lungs — the most essential of all 
organs, able to contribute most to your success in the 
hour of trial — you have left to take care of themselves. 
"What can I do?" you inquire. This, in the first place, 
I reply : See that your horse or colt has plenty of pure, 
fresh, unhreatlied air. A well-ventilated stable, where 
the horse has plenty of air that no other animal's breath 
has tainted, is the first essential. Foul air means foul 
blood ; and foul blood means diseased lung-substance. 
If your colt's blood is diseased, his lungs are being built 
up with diseased substance, like as when a wall is built 
of rotten bricks. If, now, your colt is in good health, 
and has a stall well ventilated, and is exercised to the 
halter every day, you think all is being done that need 
be or can be; but you are greatly mistaken. Such 
treatment will keep him in good health, and an average 
lung-growth: but for speed you must have more than 
this ; you need extraordinary lung-development. And 
how, pray, can we obtain this extraordinary lung- 
development ? In this way, and in this way alone : By 
putting the colt at least two or three times each week to 
the top of his speed in the exercise-lot Not until his 



HOW TO TEAIN A COLT. 191 

blood is heated somewhat, and lungs and heart have 
begun to work under pressure, is either the blood or 
wind sent fast and forcefully enough into and through 
the venous system of the lungs to fairly expand them. 
The lung-substance, as you know, is full of veins, — 
minute blood-ducts ; and the action of the heart, when 
the colt is merely jogged about, is not strong and rapid 
enough to send the blood through these in the way in 
which it must be sent in order to strengthen and build 
them up. Moreover, in order to enlarge and develop 
the lungs, they must be distended, — distended tlior- 
ouglily^ to the extremity of every little air-passage : and, 
to do this, the inhalation on the part of the colt must be 
sudden and strong ; which, of course, cannot be unless 
the colt is put through a course of sharp exercise. 
You will observe that my plan is only Nature's plan, the 
location of the exercise being changed. Nature exer- 
cises her colts in the field: she sends them tearing 
through bushes, and jumping brooks and bowlders, and 
racing over hillocks ; nor will she let them halt until 
their necks are moist, their nostrils distended to their 
utmost capacity, and their flanks all a-quiver. I accept 
the hint ; and standing in the centre of the exercise-lot, 
whip in hand, my groom sends my favorite colt around 
time and again, time and again, — now at a trot, now at 
his keenest jump, — until his nostrils show their red, his 
neck moistens, and his ribs stand out to sight as lifted 
by every inflation of the lung. This, remember, is done 
(Jay by day, month in and out, the year round. It is 



192 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

this steady, perslsted-in exercise touching any organ that 
gives to it, in the end, its highest possible development. 
Those who think that they can develop a horse's wind 
in two or three months are greatly mistaken. Lungs, 
lilye ships, are not built in a day: they cannot be i)ut 
into a horse a month before the expected race. They 
must he grown up in the Jiorse, beginning at the day 
he is able to trot by the dam's side ; and they can 
only be groivn in the manner I have pointed out. 

In conjunction with the exercise-lot, and alternating 
with it, if convenient, comes jogging on the road or 
around the track. Some people say, "Never drive nor 
harness a colt before he is five years old." This is sheer 
nonsense. The natural state is not the best state, neces- 
sarily, to an animal so highly organized as the horse. 
Dio Lewis will take a boy and train him, so that, at 
twelve years of age, he will lift twice as much as any 
Indian lad of that age who ever lived. For the pur- 
poses of nature. Nature is perfect in her educational 
processes ; but, for the purposes of man, man is the 
better disciplinarian, A colt, if he be well formed and 
of average size, should be driven from five to ten miles 
to a light hitch-up twice a week at least, and be allowed 
to " strip out " once or twice every drive for a quar- 
ter of a mile, too, at that. Colts are made to go ^ and 
going does not hurt them, as any one can see who 
watches them in the pasture. It does not hurt a colt to 
"i^^#" and "szyea^;" but, on the other hand, this swift 
and hot lung-and-heart action is just what his system 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 193 

needs for its development. I would not say a word to 
encourage any to overdrive colts ; for I hold that such 
conduct is criminal : but I believe, that, where one colt 
is crippled by over- exercise, fifty in the country are 
being crippled by constrained idleness. Give your 
colt, friend, plenty of oats and hay and pure water, 
and fresh air in his stall, and plenty of exercise in the 
exercise-lot and on the road, and you will have an ani- 
mal, when he is matured, able to go fast and go far, and 
pull weight, without giving out, either: and if you 
should ever enter him in competition with another 
horse of equal speed by nature, but educated in the 
old approved style of being babied in a box-stall until 
he was put into actual training, you will see your horse 
trotting under the wire with ears pricked, and unlabored 
action ; while your rival's nag is straining and blow- 
ing, in vain but frantic effort, half way down the stretch 
toward the distance-post. Whatever else you neglect 
in the education and training of your colt, reader, do 
not neglect the development of his lungs. No matter 
what theory of development you adopt : have a theory ; 
for this implies thought on your part touching the mat- 
ter ; and the trouble now is, very likely, that you have 
never given any thought to it at all. 

Next to the development of lung-power, stands, as I 
judge,, in importance, the development of muscular 
power ; and to this we will now turn our attention. 

The muscles which need especial development are 
those of the haunches, or thighs, and bach. The former. 

13 - 



194 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

do not suffer from lack of treatment ; but the latter do. 
It is not leg-power so much as back-power a horse 
needs in order to pull weight and project himself rapid- 
ly through the air. The muscles that are located over 
the loins, and run forward like great pulleys alono- 
either side of the spinal column, as you can see if you 
will watch a horse in action, are the ones relied on by 
nature to do much of the work required. Hence a 
long-backed horse must be exceedingly strong in the 
muscular formation at these points, or he is sure to give 
out when the tug comes. How to strengthen the mus- 
cles of the back and Joins is, therefore, a question worthy 
of the breeder's and trainer's closest attention. In the 
human system this is done by lifting weights, and climb- 
ing hills, and carrying burdens. Every one knows what 
enormous burdens the porters of the East will walk off 
under with ease, — burdens which an American could 
barely lift, much less shoulder. Well, how do they get 
this power ? The answer is found in their habit of life 
and labor. From boyhood they are porters, weight- 
carriers. Every day adds a pound to their weight- 
carrying capacity ; and thus nature is developed to an 
extent which seems marvellous to us, unused to such 
exercise and labor. Well, muscles and bones are the 
same everywhere, — the same in the horse as in the man ; 
and if man, by certain practice, and exercise at weight- 
carrying, can develop the muscles of his back and loins 
so that his natural capacity can be more than doubled, 
why can we not develop the back and loin power of 



HOW TO TEAIN A COLT. 195 

our colts in like manner, and to the same extent? I 
hold, therefore, that the muscles of a colt's back and 
loins can be easily and greatly developed by the impo- 
sition of weight ; beginning, say, when he is two years 
of age, and continuing the practice until maturity. 
Many horses naturally somewhat weak at these points 
could be brought, in a few years, to be above the 
average capacity by a judicious treatment of weighting. 
So far as I have experimented in this direction, the re- 
sult has been eminently successful, — precisely what one 
would expect, from the circumstances of the case, it 
would be. This I know, that, even in a few months, 
the muscles of the back and loins can be enlarged and 
brought out, so that the improvement in the steadi- 
ness of the animal's gait, and his power to stride, are 
perceptible even to the driver's eye. 

Many horses "tangle up," and go to pieces, because 
the muscles of the back are too weak to put the neces- 
sary control upon the framework and the legs. Every 
horse "breaks" in the back before he "breaks" in the 
leg; that is, the unsteadiness of motion — which, when 
it has passed a certain limit, is communicated to his legs, 
causing him to change his gait from a trot into a run, in 
order to save his balance — besfins in the back. As lono^ 
as a horse can keep his back-bone in a straight line, he 
is all right. His loss of control over himself springs 
from a* muscular weakness at that point. One reason 
why a horse should never be pulled so that he is 
doubled up, is because, when so doubled up, he cannot 



196 THE PEEFECT HORSE. 

keep tlie spinal column — which is to the framework 
of the horse what the keel is to the framework of a 
ship — straight. Some say, indeed most say, when 
driving a race, watch your horse's head for the first 
signs of unsteadiness. Hiram Woodruff said, that, in the 
action of the head, the driver could see the first pre- 
monitions of a break. Against such authority I would 
not set any opinion of my own, save in the way of sug- 
gestion. But while Woodruff may be right, and un- 
doubtedly is right, in many, perhaps the majority of 
cases, I am, on the other hand, confident, that, in some 
horses, the signs of the coming break can be quickest 
perceived in the action of the spinal column. My habit 
is to watch the horse's back : so long as that is straight, 
well-steadied, the action of the back-muscles regular 
and in a straight line, I keep sending the horse along. 
Only when a slight quiver or twist, a kind of kinking-up 
or swaying motion, is seen in the back, do I take him 
more firmly in hand, and steady him until he has time 
to straighten himself out again. The advantage of 
watching the line of the back, instead of the head, of 
a horse, to perceive the signs of the coming break, is 
found, as it seems to me, in this : The head sign is not 
the same in all horses ; nor is it so unmistakable to the 
eye, — unless you have driven the horse enough to become 
acquainted with his peculiar habit of going, — and there- 
fore not so much to be depended upon, nor so. easily 
discerned, as the vibratory movement of the spinal 
column, which, while it invariably precedes the " tan- 



HOW TO TKAIN A COLT. 197 

gling up," can be easily perceived by the merest novice. 
But we were speaking as to liow to strengthen the back, 
rather than how to watch it give forth the signs of 
unsteadiness ; and to this point let us now return. 

We have discussed the influence of weights in de- 
veloping the muscles of the loin and back. We would 
now allude, briefly, to what might be called the in- 
fluence of up-hill exercise ; by which I mean the trot- 
ting and running of colts or the horse, under training, 
up sharp declivities. This is Nature's method of 
development. Eunning through all her educational 
processes, you find the element of opposition. She 
makes her birds to fly against currents of air as often as 
with them. Her fishes must contend with tides and the 
swift opposition of rapids ; while the noblest of the 
species must practise their powers, often for days at a 
time, in vain, in the spirited attempt to jump the oppos- 
ing waterfall. Surely we can discern the wisdom of 
this arrangement ; for we can see that only by such a 
process can the highest structural development be 
attained. Turning now from theory and analogy to 
observation of data^ this we know, — that horses raised 
in mountainous districts and hilly sections have better 
lung-development, and are stronger in the loins and 
back, than those raised in the flat meadows of the low- 
lands. The character of the atmosphere may, in part, 
account for the improvement in the lung-structure ; but 
nothing save the fact, that horses raised in such 
localities are compelled, by the necessities of their 



198 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

situation, to jump streams, and climb hills, can ex- 
plain the increased power of their loin and back. 

The Morgan horse is a wonderful illustration of this. 
Such a weight-puller, when you consider his size, cer- 
tainly was never seen in America, and, so far as we 
know, never seen in the world. And to-day a colt 
raised in Vermont, or the mountainous sections of New 
Hampshire and New York, is almost invariably coupled, 
at the junction of the spinal column with the hip-bones, 
like a giant. Analogy and observation alike suggest 
to the breeder and trainer that every young horse 
should be put through a certain amount of up-hill exer- 
cise. Do not trot your colts alone on the level stretch ; 
above all, avoid the descending grade. Practise him in 
the other direction ; and especially, when you come to 
a hill, let "him take it at the jump. For one, I am free 
to say I prefer that my colts should be driven, while 
being developed, along a road with a great many hills 
in it. How often you see horses, when trotting a race 
on a track that is not perfectly level, falter in their gait 
when taking the rising stretch, lose the strength and 
steadiness of their stroke, and drop behind I They 
could trot, you see, down a descending grade; they 
could move fast, even on level ground: but they were 
too weak in the back and loins to force themselves up 
the ascent. Had they been properly trained, and es- 
pecial care been exercised to develop them at the 
desired point, they would have kept their length of 
stride and powerful stroke from bottom to top, and 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 199 

come in the winner, instead of being disgracefully 
beaten. And yet the fault was more with the trainer 
than with the horse ; because the horse could not reason, 
while the trainer's business is to think, and think for 
the horse, not only during the few moments of the 
race, but during all the months, and years even, that 
precede it. And here I wish to call the reader's atten- 
tention to the influence of slow exercise in connection 
with weight-pulling. Good steady team-work, such as 
a horse finds in ordinary farm-labor, is, in my estimation, 
one of the best methods that can be adopted to de- 
velop many horses in muscular strength. Horses that 
are narrow in the chest, and weak in the back, are es- 
pecially benefited in this way. Many colts that cannot 
command their legs, that hit their knees, "grab over," 
" hitch," and the like, if put to team-service for a year 
or two, will come out of the discipline in splendid 
health and condition, and able to go fast without hitting 
a hair. This I know from actual experience. A great 
many colts are being trained on race-courses to-day, 
at great expense to their owners, and risks to them- 
selves, in reference to which it may be said, that it 
would be vastly better for all concerned if they were 
taken from the track, and given to some old farmer to 
use on his farm for two or three years. In that time 
their frames would spread, their chests expand, their 
bones harden, their muscles enlarge, and they would 
escape the fate which now awaits them, — a premature 
break-down and an early death. I hold that slow 



200 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

work for some colts is the only work which they can 
stand with safety, and therefore the only work to which 
they should be put. It is the best way, only because 
it is the only way. It is to correct faults of formation, 
rather than to develop perfect formation. This distinc- 
tion being understood, I give it my hearty indorse- 
ment. 

We have now progressed so far in our discussion 
touching the best way to develop the natural capacity 
of the colt, in order that he may go fast and far, that 
the matter of driving must be noticed ; and we will 
proceed to consider it. I do not write with the pro- 
fessional's knowledge or practical experience in racing, 
nor, indeed, from the professional's stand-point. The 
object of this book, so far as I am connected with it, is 
not to attempt to teach professionals in their especial 
branch of business, of which I know nothing, but to 
make certain suggestions, based in part on the opinions 
of other men, and in part upon my own study and ob- 
servation of the horse when in action, as driven by 
gentlemen on the road, or at our annual fairs. In many 
respects it is more difficult to drive a young and un- 
trained horse well upon the road — requiring greater 
quickness of the eye and hand, and finer control over 
one's self — than to drive trained animals on a smooth 
level track in the public race. Especially does it 
require intelligence and a goodly degree of skill to 
drive a colt in such a way as to prevent him from 
acquiring vicious habits of going, and to confirm him in 



HOW TO TEAIK A COLT. 201 

the practice of good ones. And it is with the driving 
of colts that we will begin. 

We will suppose that your colt is so far familiar with 
the harness and wagon, that it is safe to drive him on 
the public highway. In the first place, avoid driving a 
colt in a two-wheeled sulky. No matter how well it is 
balanced, the pressure on his back will be variable ; and 
before you are aware, by the spring of the shafts up and 
down, unsteadiness of gait will be the result. A four- 
wheeled wagon, light as circumstances will permit, is 
far preferable. In such a vehicle his stride will be 
steadier, and his confidence in himself far greater. 
Another great advantage is found in the fact, that, in a 
four-wheeled vehicle, you are seated so far back, that 
you can watch the movements of his limbs, and observe 
whatever is wrong in their action. This is a source of 
great satisfaction to a driver. The first lesson to incul- 
cate in your colt is, that he is to start off slowly. For 
the first quarter of a mile, let him walk. It is well to 
have him start into a trot of his own accord. This a 
sprightly colt will naturally do ; and his gait will soon 
become, without his being urged, fast enough for the 
road. If he is two years of age, you can jog him from 
four to ten miles three times a week for the first month, 
with decided benefit to him. This distance is sufiicient 
to take the friskiness out of him, and make him under- 
stand that it means business. Some advocate only two 
or three miles every day ; but I think that a .longer dis- 
tance, with a day of rest between the exercises, is far 



202 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

preferable. After the first month, you can begin to 
let him out a little. Very likely, before this, he has 
begun to get an inkling of his powers, and showed a 
disposition to avail himself of the smooth stretches in 
the road. For such manifestations you have been 
anxiously looking ; and their coming is a delight to your 
soul. It is the sure evidence that your colt has "got, it 
in him; " and that, with proper education, he is bound to 
be a trotter. Now select your nicest bit of ground, 
straight and level as may be, not more than fifty rods 
in length, at least two miles from your stable, so that, 
by the time he reaches it, the effervescence of his spirits 
has worked itself out ; and when you have come to it, 
and he begins to lift his head, and feel of the bit with 
his tongue, — which he is pretty sure to do, — do not 
restrain him, but let him go it. Don't say any thing to 
him. It is his affair, remember; and let him enjoy it 
undisturbed. Simply steady him slightly with the lines ; 
and after he has gone what you regard as a sufficient dis- 
tance, and while he is in full blast, and eager as a young 
hound on the scent, take him gently in hand, and slow 
him up. Now is your time to praise him. Call him pet 
names ; flatter him ; reach over and pat him with your 
hand. Make him feel that he has done something 
worthy, and that you are proud of him. Do not smile 
incredulously as you read this, and say a colt can't 
understand you. A colt can understand you. Among 
all animals, the dog only is more susceptible to praise. 
If you have the right stuff in you, you cannot drive a 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 203 

colt a month witliout a kind of half-human intelligence 
springing up between you and him. He will recognize 
you when you enter his stall. He will grow to expect 
your caress when you mount the seat and take the lines. 
He will keep an ear turned as you jog, to catch your 
lightest word. I have known horses neigh back an 
answer when their driver spoke to them. It is a great 
thing, believe me, to establish this understanding be- 
tween you and your colt. With this spurt be content. 
Try no more that day. Jog him through his journey, 
and bring him home to his stable with only that one 
memory in his mind. 

Let him rest a day, then try him again. Before you 
get within fifty rods of that stretch of road, you will find 
your colt anticipating it. I have no doubt but that he 
has thought it all over in his stall, and made up his 
mind how he would strip out when he reached that 
spot again ; for no sooner has he come to it, than, 
without a word from you, or the movement of a line, 
he will begin to stir the bits in his mouth, lift his nose 
into the air, elevate his tail a little, and go at it. This 
is the way that a colt should be taught to trot. It 
should be of his own free accord ; the mere overflow- 
ing of a vitality so vigorous and buoyant, that it can- 
not be restrained. An old horse can be urged with 
voice and whip, if need be ; but let your colt alone. 
Don't urge him: make haste slowly at this point. It 
is not great speed that you want now, so much as a 
desire to go, and a correct movement of the limbs. 



204 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

Educate him in the desire, and confirm liim in regu- 
larity of stroke, and the speed is sure to follow in due 
time. If you find that he is getting a little sluggish 
in his movements, let him rest: hold up for a week. 
It is evident that he is being overdone ; and to overdo 
at this point of his education, will, in the majority of 
cases, prove fatal to the colt's promise and the owner's 
hopes. Another sure sign that you are exacting too 
much of him is seen w^hen he begins to hitch in his 
gait. This hitching comes from driving too fast and 
too far ; at times from over-weighting the colt. I quote 
the following from that most admirable work by Hiram 
Woodruff, " The Trotting-Horse of America." Speaking 
of this matter of over-working, he says, — 

"The work must- be according to his constitution, to 
the rate of his growth, and to his heartiness of feeding. 
This jogging will probably be about five or six miles a 
day, and the spurts not above a quarter of a mile. He 
must be carefully watched to ascertain whether he im- 
proves or not. If not, he is to be let up a bit: for. his 
improvement at this age ought to go on all the time; 
and will, if he is all right. Rapid improvement, how- 
ever, must not be expected : ever so little will do ; but 
it ought not to stop altogether. At this time, you will 
often see him break his gait ; and this is an indication 
that he has had too much work for his age, and has got 
sore on it. But it may not arise altogether from over- 
work: therefore put the rollers on, and work him 
gently, changing them from leg to leg as required. 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 205 

The colt now finds something on his legs, besides the 
boots, which was not there before ; and it will alter his 
way of going. He must be nicely handled now. You 
must use all your observation and best judgment, with 
a light but firm hold of the reins. In all probability, 
he will trot square again with the rollers on ; and, as 
soon as he does so, let him up for a little while. When 
the broken gait shows, he must not on any account be 
kept on without a change ; for, if he is, it may become 
confirmed. On the other hand, I never like to let them 
up until I have got them to trot square again ; for, if they 
are so let up, they may not trot square again when their 
work is resumed." 

There is another point of prime importance in driving 
any horse, but especially a young one : it is the way you 
handle the reins. Most drivers overdrive. They at- 
tempt too much ; and, in so doing, distract or hamper 
the horse. Now and then you find a horse with such a 
vicious gait, that his speed is got from him by the most 
artificial processes ; but such horses are fortunately rare, 
and hence the style of management required cannot 
become general. The true way is to let the horse drive 
himself, the driver doing little but directing him, and giv- 
ing him that confidence which a horse alone gets in him- 
self when he feels that a guide and firiend is back of him. 
The most vicious and inexcusable style of driving is 
that which so many drivers adopt; viz., wrapping the 
lines around either hand, and pulling the horse backward 
with all their might and main, so that the horse, in point 



206 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

of fact, pulls the weight back of him with his mouth, 
and not with his breast and shoulders. This they do 
under the impression that such a dead pull is needed in 
order to "steady " the horse. This method of driving 
I regard as radically and superlatively wrong. It 
would tax the ingenuity of a hundred fools to invent a 
worse one. The fact is, with rare exceptions there 
should never be any pull put upon the horse at all. A 
steady pressure is allowable, probably advisable ; but 
any thing beyond this has no justification in nature or 
reason ; for nature suggests the utmost possible freedom 
of action of head, body, and limbs, in order that the 
animal may attain the highest rate of speed ; and reason 
certainly forbids the supposition, that by the bits, and 
not the breast-collar, the horse is to draw the weight 
attached to it. In speeding my horses, I very seldom 
grasp the lines with both hands when the road is 
straight, and free from obstructions. The lines are 
rarely steadily taut, but held in easy pliancy, and 
used chiefly to shift the bit in the animal's mouth, and 
by this motion communicate courage and confidence 
to him. I find, that, by this method, my horses hreah 
less, and go much faster, than when driven by men who 
put the old-fashioned steady pull upon them. I know 
of no writer who expresses my ideas, in the main, so 
accurately as the writer whom I have just quoted : — 

"In all his work, the colt is to be taught .to go along 
without being pulled hard. His mouth may be easily 
spoiled for life by teaching him to tug at the bit now ; 



HOW TO TEAIN A COLT. 207 

and he is not at all likely to make a fast trotter, if to 
trot he must always have his weight upon the driver's 
arms. There have been some fast trotters and stayers 
that were hard pullers; but they would have been 
better horses but for that fact. Still it is to be remem- 
bered, that, when going fast, the colt or horse will often 
want to get his head down, and feel the bit sensibly. 
He will not, in nine cases out of ten (or can not, which 
comes to the same thing), do his best without it. The 
object of the driver should then be to support him with 
as little pull as possible, but still to support him. The 
horse with a good mouth will always feel the driver's 
hand ; and, when the latter is as skilful as he ought to 
be for the handling of the first-rate fast trotter, he may 
play upon the rein with a touch like that of a harper 
upon the strings, and the horse will answer every touch 
with the music of the feet and wheels, 

" On the other hand, if, when the colt takes hold of 
the bit, the driver does nothing but hold on like grim 
death to a dead darky, it soon becomes a pulling- 
match between them : and before the colt is of age to 
trot fast, and stay a distance, his pulling has become 
a vice of the most troublesome and mischievous de- 
scription ; his mouth has become so callous, that he 
pulls a wagon and driver along by the reins instead of 
the traces ; and, by the dead drag between him and the 
man behind him, he loses a great deal of the power 
that will be wanted to sustain him when the pinch 
comes." 



208 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

This point is put plainly and eloquently, and, coming 
from the greatest master of driving the trotting-horse 
America has ever had, is to be accepted, and will be by 
sensible people, as a law not to be violated. This pull- 
ing style of driving not only mars a horse's action, but 
converts a pleasure into a toil. To draw a wagon by 
the reins is hard work for the horse, and equally hard 
work for the driver. It kills the very object of driving 
among gentlemen, which is recreation and rest and 
stimulating excitement ; and makes what when properly 
managed is easy and delightful a most laborious and in- 
deed hazardous proceeding. This light, easy, touch-and- 
go style of holding the lines and guiding the horse is 
supposed by some to be insufficient to prevent a horse 
from breaking his gait ; but, far from this being true, the 
fact is, it is the pulled horse that is most likely to '■'•kink " 
up and get '■'•twisted'''' in going. Nature has so ad- 
justed the head and tail of a horse, that they assist him, 
when stretched in rapid motion, to keep his balance, and 
direct himself All speedy animals run with streaming 
tails and straightened necks, and noses pointed ahead ; 
and it stands to reason that a horse with his head curbed 
under, so that his nose is nearly pulled against his breast, 
cannot move at his fastest rate of going. His driver's 
insane conduct keeps him out of balance, and compels 
him to go in an unnatural way. For the same reasons, 
check-lines should be avoided, especially on colts. 
Now and then it may be necessary to put on some 
such contrivance ; but it argues that the coH or horse 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 209 

has false action by nature, and detracts materially from 
his value. I am not talking about ^rac^-horses, but 
about gentlemen's driving-horses; and I advise all pur- 
chasers to " bid low " on a colt that cannot trot all that 
he can trot without any of this top-hamper whatever. 
Buy no colts that have to be screwed up or screwed 
down by patented inventions about the head ; but select 
one that moves off with an untrammelled neck, and nose 
held naturally at just the right angle for beauty, and 
which is held by himself in the right position to accom- 
modate his movements, whatever be his gait. Beware, 
also, how you buy colts that have to be "booted" and 
"padded," and gauntleted with "rollers." If you 
wish to buy a horse-furnishing establishment, buy one ; 
but don't buy it with a sample of all your stock tied 
round the legs of your horse. Buy no colt, young man, 
that don't go dear in every respect. If he brushes a 
hair in going, leave him in the breeder's yard for some 
fool to purchase : never make one of yourself by buy- 
ing him. His owner will find purchasers enough, no 
doubt ! 

But to return to the matter of "breaking." Ordi- 
narily speaking, do not allow your colt to break at all. 
Remember that your business is to educate him to trot^ 
not to teach him to run. But if he does ever break, 
then let him break with a vengeance. Let there be 
no halfway work about it; no halting and hobbling, 
and coming back in the breeching, but a regular 
plunge forward, and a rocket-like movement through 

14 



210 THE PEKFECT HOESE. 

the air. If he breaks, make him gain hy the break. 
Make him understand that his business is to go ahead, 
hit or miss, in one style as long as possible ; but to go 
it, style or no style. If you have a green horse, that 
comes back in the breeching when he breaks, or even 
when his backbone begins to twist up before the break 
has actually begun, then give him the whip : give it to 
him sharp and quick. Get all that nonsense out of him 
at once : keep him sailing. Do not yank him now, and 
grab at him with the lines, as if your life depended on 
pulling your wagon over his back ; but let him take four 
or five jumps until his back-bone is straightened out, 
and he has got levelled down to it, and is gathering his 
legs up under him like a racer ; then move the bits in 
his mouth, and " pick him up." Don't saw and sway 
him, and double him up until his nose is down between 
his fore-legs, and his haunches up over his shoulders. 
Remember that his back must be kept straight at all 
events, or he will not catch his trot square, or be able to 
keep it when he has caught it. With a sharp, firm 
turn of your wrist, and a lift on the bit, pick his nose 
upward, and slightly to one side : this will throw him 
from his balance just enough to make him "grab for his 
gait," and not enough to twist him into unsteadiness or to 
slack him up. You may not succeed the first or second 
time ; but persevere until you have educated your wrist 
and eye to act in conjunction, and you will then have 
mastered one of the most difficult feats of finest horse- 
manship. Sometimes a horse has to be broken up to 



HOW TO TEAIN A COLT. 211 

the whip in order to learn his own speed. When a 
horse is picked down to his trot, after you have got him 
at his best jump, he is forced to trot fast as lightning for 
four or five strides, or go on to the ground. Such a 
gait, even for a few steps, to a green horse, is a revelation 
to himself. It gives him a hint that he never forgets, or 
fails to improve upon. It is to him what the first dozen 
strokes in the water are to a young swimmer, — a revela- 
tion and an ecstasy. He can do it! The feat is ac- 
complished! Hurrah! It is just so with a young 
horse. After his first successful burst of speed, he is a 
new creature. A knowledge of his own powers, of 
which he had not dreamed, has come to him. He is 
lifted on the wings of a new pride. Henceforth he is 
ambitious to excel. His career has begun. 

The most difiicult point in settling a horse from a 
run to a trot is, not in picking him up, but in easing 
him away. In nineteen cases out of twenty, the horse 
is quicker than the man. We hold our horses too long : 
we do not let them catch their trot when they are 
ready to do it. Bear this in mind, reader, the next 
time your horse breaks; and, when the moment has 
come, let go of him. Let every thing go by the run, as 
sailors say. Still this should be observed, — that it is 
well to steady or restrain the horse slightly for an 
instant after the break, in order that he may have an 
opportunity to collect his thoughts, and confirm his 
stroke : but still the law is, to keep him going ; that is, 
if your object is to make speed. 



212 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

There is one peculiarity about the horse in trotting 
which I have never seen mentioned in print ; and yet I 
have often observed it, and know it to be important. 
I refer to the way in which a horse breathes when mov- 
ing at the top of his speed. It is an erroneous idea 
to suppose that horses breathe as regularly in action as 
when standing still or jogging. Indeed, they do not 
breathe at all for strides at a time when making their 
spurts. They act precisely as a man does when making 
a jump. When a man is about to make a great jump, 
what does he do ? This : He takes in a long breath, 
filling his lungs to the full, and then goes it ! Not until 
the leap is made are the lungs inflated again. It is pre- 
cisely so with a horse when trotting, and about to make 
a spurt. Suppose you have been trailing, and have come 
to the last-quarter post three lengths behind the leading 
horse, which you feel is doing about all he is able to. It 
is now or never with you. You know it ; and your horse 
hioivs it too. You move the bits in his mouth, and call 
on him. He answers your call with a rush that carries 
him like a bullet to your rival's wheel. Hold him there. 
Let him get his breath. If you urge him now, he will 
break sure. If he can stay where he is, you are all 
right. He knows what you are at ; and, when you are 
within fifty yards of the wire, call on him again, and he 
will jump himself to the front as sure as fate, unless he 
is positively overmatched, and his opponent is handled 
in the same way. This is the secret of the grand 
rushes some horses are accustomed to make near th*e 



HOW TO TEAIN A COLT. 213 

close of the .lieat, and wliicli make the race, even when 
they are evidently overmatched, uncertain until the 
heat is actually finished. How many times Flora Tem- 
ple, under the skilful management of Hiram Woodruff, 
would wrench victory from the grasp of defeat by this 
peculiarity of movement and power! I know a stallion 
— not on the course, and thus unknown — that possesses 
this power to a wonderful extent. No matter how fast 
he is moving: there is always another link in him that 
he can let out if necessary. I have seen him gather 
himself for one of these rushes, and, when called on, 
send himself through the air like a bullet from a gun. 

I wish, at this point and in this connection, to make 
several quotations from Hiram Woodruff's "Trotting- 
Horse of America," — a book filled with much interest- 
ing knowledge and advice, and which, reader, if you do 
not own, you should purchase at once ; and I do this 
because his views are in close accordance with mine, and 
because they are expressed with great simplicity and 
accuracy. Speaking of the management of the colt, he 
says, — 

"When you come to drive him, it should be with a 
light, firm hand. The reins should be handled nicely 
and gently. The driver can manage the colt without 
'any jerking or pulling and hauling, if he keeps cool, 
thinks of what he is about, and uses proper care and 
patience. The mouth is now fine and sensitive ; and it 
ought to be kept so, because this is the great organ of 
communication between a good driver and the trotter, 



214 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

when he is cultivated and improved into a fast horse. 
What you want the trotter to do when he is at speed is 
to be got into him through his mouth. You may 
encourage him by speaking to him, or sting him into 
a greater effort with the whip ; but neither of these is 
half as good as the play upon the reins, with which 
you let him know what you want through his lively, 
sensitive mouth. You are then to keep in constant 
mind the necessity of not impairing the colt's mouth 
by rough handling of the reins. If you pull and lug at 
the bit, the colt, in his efforts to resist what hurts 
him, will very soon pull too ; for he will find out that 
this numbs and deadens the jaws : but this is at the 
expense of ruination to the mouth. It will become 
hard and insensible ; and the first and largest part of 
the mischief which goes towards the making of a hard 
puller is done. 

" When you begin to drive the colt, you must find out 
what sort of bit suits him best. This is matter of ex- 
perimental trial. Use both bars and snaffles, all easy ; 
and by feel of hand, and observation of the way in 
which the colt carries his head, you will soon be able to 
ascertain which bit suits him best. The nicety of your 
touch as driver should correspond to the lively sensi- 
bility of the colt's mouth. A bad-tempered, hasty man 
will very soon spoil a good-tempered young horse. 
The use of the whip ought, as a general rule, to be 
avoided. In some cases, it must be used ; but it should 
never be brought into play when the horse does not 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 215 

know what it is for. A slap with the whip, which al- 
most makes the colt jump out of the harness, is often 
immediately followed by a powerful snatch on the reins 
to pull him back again. Both of these are as bad as 
bad can be. Sore mouths, bad tempers, and broken 
gaits, are the almost inevitable results of such handling. 
On the other hand, if the colt has been well broken, 
and has a good lively mouth, and the driver handles the 
reins skilfully and thoughtfully, the colt will soon learn 
to understand every move of the hand, and to answer 
it. From this it follows that you ought to make no 
move with the bit without a definite object. When 
you feel an impulse to do something with the reins 
without knowing what you are to do it /or, don't do it 
at all. Such moves only fool the horse. Everybody 
admits that a very hard-pulling horse is a nuisance ; 
and everybody knows that some horses will pull if they 
are to trot, and will not extend themselves without a 
strong pull : but, even in regard to these, it is not well 
to keep up a steady, rigid pull all the time. I say, 
Rather pull for a space, and then ease off, not suddenly, 
but gradually ; and by this means they will not pull 
quite so hard, and will trot faster. It is not natural for 
horses to pull hard. Some there are, of uncommon 
ardor and determination, that will pull in company ; but 
more are made hard pullers by faulty handling when 
young, which has deadened their mouths, 

" In order that a fast horse should be under circum- 
stances to do his best, he should be as much at his ease 



216 THE PERFECT HOUSE. 

in his harness and general rig as possible. If he is not, 
he is placed at almost as much disadvantage as if sore 
or stiff", or suffering from some bodily ailment. You 
may see horses brought out of the stable to trot with a 
very tight check to keep their heads up, and a tight 
martingale to keep it down. Such a horse is in irons ; 
and when to this is added a dead drag at the reins, and 
no movement of the bit from end to end, I cannot see 
how he should do his best. People talk about a steady, 
bracing pull ; but, in my opinion, that is not the right 
way to drive a trotter. There is a great difference 
between letting go of your horse's head, and keeping 
up one dull, deadening pull all the time. The race- 
horse riders practise what is called a bracing pull ; and 
a great many times I have seen their horses tire under 
it without ever running their best. The steady pull 
choked them. The pull should be sufficient to feel the 
mouth, and give some support and assistance, so as to 
give the horse confidence to get up to his stride. More 
than that is mischievous. To keep the mouth alive, the 
bit must be shifted a little occasionally. But this is not 
to be done by a pull of the hand on the rein. A mere 
half-turn of the wrist, or less than half a turn, by which 
the thumb is elevated, and the little finger lowered, is 
sufiicient to shift the bit, keep the mouth sensitive, and 
rouse the horse. 

" The reins are to be steadily held with both hands 
while this play with the wrist is made ; and it is, of 
course, only to be done with one wrist at a time. The 



HOW TO TEAIN A COLT. 217 

hands should be well down ; and the driver ought not 
to sit all of a heap, with his head forward. Neither 
should he lean back, with his bodily weight on the 
reins ; which, in that case, are made a sort of stay for 
him. He should be upright ; and what pulling he must 
do should be done by the muscular force of the arms. 
The head and the arms are what a good driver uses ; 
but some have their arms straight out, and pull by 
means of putting the dead weight of their bodies on 
the reins. If instead of lying back, and putting their 
bodily weight on the reins, with which latter they take 
a turn round their hands, drivers would depend upon 
their muscular strength, they could let up on the pull, 
graduate it, and so ease the horse from time to time in- 
stantaneously. The driver who depends upon the arms 
has command of the horse : he who substitutes bodily 
weight, with the reins wrapped round his hands, has not 
half command of the horse, or of himself either ; and, if 
the horse is a puller, he will soon take command of the 
driver. The reason of it is, that there is no intermis- 
sion of the exertion, no let-up, either for man or horse. 
Besides, in that way of driving, it is impossible to give 
those movements to the bit which seem to refresh and 
stimulate the horse so much. When a horse has been 
taught the significance of this movement of the bit, the 
shift by the turn of the wrist, he will never fail to 
answer it, even though he should seem to be at the top 
of his speed. The moment he feels this little move of 
the bit in his sensitive mouth, he will collect himself, 



218 THE PEEFECT HOESE. 

and make another spurt : and the value of this way of 
driving is, that the horse is not likely to break when 
thus called upon ; while a high-strung, generous horse, 
if called upon for a final effort with a whip, is as likely 
to break the moment it falls on him as not. I have won 
many a very close heat by practising this movement ; 
and therefore I have no hesitation in recommending it. 
It is not difficult to acquire ; and the horse soon comes 
to know what it means. 

" Let us come now to the way of taking hold of the 
reins. A wrap around the hand, such as running-horse 
riders take, is clumsy and bad. I do not know whether 
many people take hold of the reins as I do, or not. 
Perhaps not. Sim. Hoagland is the only one who takes 
hold precisely as I do, so far as I have observed. When 
we have been jogging horses together at early morn- 
ing, we have often talked over these matters ; and, 
whether our way was the best way or not, we could 
never see any other that suited us half as well. 

" I will try to explain how I hold the reins. I could 
show it in two seconds. Take, first, the right-hand rein. 
This, coming from the bit, passes betwen the little fin- 
ger and the third finger, over the little finger, then 
under the other three fingers, and up over the thumb. 
The left-hand rein is held in the left hand exactly in the 
same way ; but the bight of the slack of the reins is 
also held between the thumb and forefinger of the left 
hand. This gives more substance in that hand ; but, 
if it is found inconvenient to have it there by those 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 219 

who have small hands, it may be dropped altogether. 
A firm grasp on each rein, with the backs of the hands 
up, and without any wrap, is thus obtained. It is a 
great point in di'iv.ing to be able to shift the reach, — 
that is, the length of the hold you take, — without, for 
an instant, letting go of the horse's head. With this 
way of holding the reins, it is easily done. If I want to 
shorten the hold on the left-hand rein (the near rein), I 
take hold of that rein just behind the left hand with the 
thumb and forefinger of the right hand, and steady it. 
This is very easily done ; and it does not interfere at all 
with the command of the off rein with the right hand. 
The near rein being thus steadied behind the left hand, 
I slide that hand forward on the rein, which is kept 
over the little finger, under the other three fingers, and 
over the thumb all the time, and then shut the grasp 
again on the new reach. A shift with the right hand 
is made just in the same way, — by taking hold and 
steadying the rein behind that hand with the thumb 
and forefinger of the left hand. 

" I have often observed, that, with other methods of 
holding the reins, there was great difficulty in shifting 
the reach. The driver tries to do it ; but, for an instant, 
he has let go of the horse's head on one side altogether, 
and broken his stride. When this is found to be the 
case, the dead pull all the time is adopted ; and this 
spoils the freedom and elasticity of the horse's stride, 
and chokes his wind. I do not intend this to be taken 
as instruction for professional drivers. Every driver 



220 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

has a way of his own ; and some of them have very 
good ways ; for, as I have taken occasion to state before, 
they drive well. But what I have set down above may 
be of service to gentlemen who drive their own horses, 
and to those young men, who, having as yet' no settled 
method of their own, may think it well enough to try 
that which I have found to answer. Another word 
about, bits. I am opposed to the use of severe bits, 
and complicated things of that sort. Some of the in- 
ventors of such things say that I am prejudiced ; but I 
don't think I am. If a man has a horse that cannot be 
driven with a bar-bit or a snaffle, he may as well sell 
him, except it is a very exceptional case. Where are 
these kinds of severe complicated bits most in use ? 
Why, in England. Five hundred or a thousand of them 
are used there to one that is used here. And Avhere do 
the horses trot the best ? These bits are mostly invent- 
ed by men who have had no practical experience what- 
ever as to what sort of driving a fast trotter requires to 
keep his gait square and bold, and induce him to do 
his best when it is called for. When a horse has a good 
mouth, — and a bad one is almost always the fault of 
bad breaking and driving, — the easier the bit you use, 
the better he will act for you, and the more speed he 
will show you." 

This, also, touching the matter of punishing horses 
when they break : — 

" In nine cases out of ten, a horse punished without his 
knowing what for is punished for his driver's fault, not 



HOW TO TRAm A COLT. 221 

for his own. Confidence cannot grow in such circum- 
stances.' If you observe two good trotters who have 
been accustomed to work together in double harness, 
you will see what speed and steadiness follow from con- 
fidence in each other. Each knows that he or she can 
depend upon the mate to keep up the stroke, and main- 
tain the even pull and level action. It is of just as 
much importance that the single-harness horse should 
understand and have confidence in his driver, as it is 
for a double-harness horse to know the power and ways 
of his mate. Unless this sort of mutual understanding 
can be established between the driver and the horse, 
the latter can never be relied upon to do his best. The 
readiest way to produce it is to use him gently but 
firmly, and to accustom him to the system of telegraph- 
ing to him by means of the reins in your hand and the 
bit in his mouth. The whip is to be kept very much in 
the background while you are cultivating confidence in 
your horse. It is more likely to prove an obstacle than 
an aid. 

" I now come to the last critical point in this matter, 
— when the horse is tired, and inclined to break. In 
a long brush, you will often haVe reason to look for an 
attempt to break ; and it will generally be in circum- 
stances when the horse must not be suffered to do it. 
There are times, as I have shown, when, with a tired 
horse, a break may be brought on with advantage ; but 
there are others when all will be lost if a break occur. 
To prevent it, give the shift with the bit when you per- 



222 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

ceive that lie begins to tire, and soon renew it : this 
will revive and rouse him, and take his mind off the 
break which he has felt he was about to make. The 
signs of a coming break will be discovered by watching 
the head and ears of the horse. The attention of the 
driver ought always to be fixed upon the head of his 
horse. Many a heat is lost by neglect of this matter. 
A driver is seen coming up the stretch a length or a 
length and a half ahead. Both the horses are tired ; 
but the leading one could win. The driver, however, 
when he gets where the carriages are, turns his head to 
look at the ladies, or to see whether they are looking at 
him. Just then the horse gives a twitch with his ears. 
The driver don't see it. Up flies the trotter; and the 
ugly man behind keeps his horse square, and wins by a 
neck." 

I have now touched upon the essential points in 
reference to the training and driving of colts and horses. 
I wish the reader to bear in mind that I have written 
in the way of suggestion, and not of dictation ; my ob- 
ject being to awaken thought, rather than to lay down 
inflexible rules. Concerning the preparation which it 
is necessary to give a horse in order to make him fit 
for a public race, it does not seem to me that I am 
called upon to speak. The object of this book does 
not call for such a discussion. The men who will, for 
the most part, I presume, purchase and read it, are 
men in no ways interested save as spectators in public 
racing. If any reader has a horse that he wishes to 



HOW TO TRAIN A COLT. 223 

bring out, and which must, therefore, receive the grand 
preparation, his true course is to commit him to the 
charge of some experienced trainer and driver, to 
whose opinion and advice every thing relating to the 
animal should be referred. I have written rather in 
the interest of the breeder, and of that large, and, I am 
glad to say, rapidly-increasing class of gentlemen who 
own, and love to drive, the trotting-horse. Among 
these I am happy to be numbered as a companion. I 
hold that no healthier recreation or innocent amuse- 
ment is open to the business and professional men of 
America than this of driving speedy horses. It gives 
relaxation to the mind, breaks pleasantly and impera- 
tively in upon the prolonged strain and tension of 
anxious thought, begets and nourishes a spirited but 
harmless rivalry, and compels a delightful and profit- 
able companionship with Nature. I know, that, in the 
minds of some, prejudices exist against men of pro- 
fessed piety indulging in such an amusement. To own 
a fast horse opens up before their prophetic vision 
truly awful contingencies. It is needless to say that I 
do not, to any considerable extent, share in this anxiety. 
I have never discovered any law in nature, or injunc- 
tion in revelation, which makes it a duty for a good 
man to own and use a poor specimen of any species of 
animals. I see no reason why such a person should 
have none but homely birds in his cages, black sheep in 
his flocks, lean kine in his fields, and lazy horses in his 
stables. The fact is, a good man has a right to the 



224 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

best. The perfect type is the only fit type. Any 
thing less than this is unworthy, — a lapse and falling-off 
from the original standard as erected in the creation. 
A horse was made for speed as truly as a bird was 
made to fly ; and flight and speed become, therefore, 
standards of appreciation and value. If a man objects 
to speed, then why drive a horse at all ? Why not 
take a donkey or a cow, and have done with it ? If 
piety is compatible only with slowness of motion, then 
a horse is no animal for a Christian to own anyway ; 
for the nearer a horse approaches, as I conceive, to the 
original type, and also the divine intention as embod- 
ied in it, the more speedy he becomes. Beauty and 
speed are therefore, as I conceive, legitimate objects 
of desire and admiration ; and, since the horse embodies 
these two characteristics in a greater degree than any 
other domestic animal, it is a proof that the man is of 
sound judgment, and lacketh not wisdom, who desires 
to own a beautiful and fast horse. Indeed, a man that 
does not love and desire such a creature seems to me 
to be lacking in some essential elements of human 
nature. Something was omitted in his construction, 
which, being possessed, would have made him larger and 
better. I do not object, therefore, either to fast horses, 
as the phrase is, or to driving them fast within proper 
restrictions, such as common sense and humane impulse 
will naturally suggest ; nor do I see any reason why 
gentlemen owners and breeders alike of fine horses 
should not exhibit their paces and their rate of speed 



HOW TO TKAIN A COLT. 225 

at our annual fairs, when the people come together to 
inspect and compare, to buy and sell, the vegetable and 
animal products of the country. If it is right to offer 
and receive a prize for fatness of swine, and stoutness 
of oxen, and fleece-bearing capacity of sheep, and even 
fancy kinds of hens and pigeons, then I do not see 
why prizes should not be offered and contended for in 
respect to the comparative speed of rival horses. No 
one has a right to condemn an honorable rivalry among 
honorable men in honorable things. 

15 



CHAPTER YIL 

THE HORSE'S FOOT, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 

We now come to the consideration of the most diffi- 
cult and interesting subject a horseman can consider, — 
the matter of shoeing. Hundreds of volumes have been 
written upon this topic, and hundreds more, I presume, 
will be published ; and yet no ground of common agree- 
ment has, as yet, been found, and may not be for years 
to come. It is not, therefore, with the expectation that 
men will agree with me, or that I shall be able to har- 
monize antagonistic opinions, that I now addi'ess myself 
to the discussion ; for such a hope would be vain, and the 
result of the effort useless. I do not doubt that what 
I have to say will stir the wrath of some, and excite 
the active hostility of others ; but to this I am indiffer- 
ent, if peradventure I may be able to make a matter hith- 
erto veiled in darkness, and shrouded in mystery, to the 
popular eye, more plainly understood by those who are 
more directly interested in it than all the veterinary 
colleges in the world: I mean the actual owners of 
horses. I do not write in the interest of any clique of 

226 



THE HOESE's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 227 

men or pet theory. I have do hobby, and am a mem- 
ber of no clique. I have no "patent shoe" to adver- 
tise, nor wealthy patron to flatter or fool. Nor have I 
any reputation to risk, or "new principles" to bring 
forward; My only ambition is to write in a sensible 
way what I have learned by reading and observation 
touching the horse's feet, and the' treatment they should 
receive in shoeing. Touching the literature of the sub- 
ject, I yield to no one as a student. The leisure of 
years has been devoted to its perusal, I believe that 
my reading, from the oldest Italian treatise to the "last 
book out," has been as wide and thorough as any per- 
son's to-day living. Nor have I read with prejudice, or 
to discover some principle which I might put in metallic 
form, patent, and send out to the world heralded as 
" the great combination-shoe." I have read simply 
that I might know what other men had thought, and, 
if possible, discover the source of those atrocious errors 
in modern farriery which are a disgrace to our veteri- 
nary service, aftd a source of torture to the horse. I do 
not mention this in vanity, — although it might be so 
construed by those who cannot understand frankness, nor 
appreciate the candor of honesty, — but to the end that 
those who peruse these pages — the average farmer and 
farmer's boy — may feel that they are reading the opin- 
ions of a man who has gone faithfully and patiently to 
the bottom of the subject, so far, at least, as mastering its 
literature goes, and is teaching them with a knowledge 
of all the facts in the case in his mind. This, also, should 



228 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

be said in this connection : I do not propose to dictate. 
My object is suggestion, not dictation. If I advance 
opinions, I shall give the reasons which support them. 
If I declare a thing wrong, I shall show why and 
wherein it is wrong. The reader can think as -he 
wishes; but I propose to have every one know what 
I think, and why I think it. 

The trouble with many books on this general sub- 
ject is, that common uneducated readers cannot under- 
stand them. To a vocabulary essentially technical and 
scientific, and therefore unfitted to be the vehicle of 
imparting ideas to the masses, is attached a habit of 
using Latin and French terms, which not one reader in 
five hundred can translate. Indeed, it would seem 
that certain authors suppose that the use of a Latin 
nomenclature increases the value of description, and en- 
hances the reputation of the writer ; for they use it as 
often as possible, in season and out of season. If they 
speak of the last bone in the foot, instead of saying 
the pedal bone, they say the os pedis ' if of the caronal 
bone, it is the os car once j and so on. The result is, 
that none but college-educated men among the masses 
can follow their diagnosis, or understand their descrip- 
tions ; and a book which might have been a delight 
and profit to the purchaser, and which was bought in 
the expectation that it would be, is, after repeated 
attempts to understand it, thrown aside in disgust, and 
rightfully pronounced a humbug. 

Now, I wish all to be assured at the start that there 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 229 

is nothing mysterious or incomprehensible touching 
this matter of the horse's foot. It is as easy to under- 
stand the several parts of the foot, and their use, as it 
is to understand the shoulder or head. Many authors 
begin their books in a style of expression calculated to 
give the reader the idea that the foot of the horse is the 
most difficult portion of his organism for people to com- 
prehend, and that they must not expect to comprehend 
it like a veterinary surgeon (!), and must not be surprised 
if they do not understand it very well when they have 
got through with reading their work. The latter sug- 
gestion was, beyond doubt, most accurate ! Indeed, it 
would have been a matter of great surprise to me if 
they had understood any thing by the time they had 
finished the book. But the incomprehensibility existed 
not in the difficulties of the subject so much as in the 
ignorance of those who professed to be able to teach 
people concerning it. The plea of " mysteriousness," 
and the "inherent and ineradicable difficulties of the 
subject," are excellent subterfuges whereby inattention 
and stupidity can veil their own lack of understanding : 
but it is put forward at a terrible risk of exposure in 
reference to the horse's foot ; for there is no part nor 
element of the foot, there is no bone or fibre, there is 
no duct or secretion, that a boy of twelve might not 
readily comprehend, and that, too, easily. Indeed, every 
part of the foot is peculiarly distinct and individual, and 
in its own structure and location suggests, as plainly as 
Nature can suggest any thing, its office and use. In fact, 



230 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

I know not any other organ in the whole frame of a 
horse so easily and quickly understood as the foot. It 
is comparatively simple in its formation, and the mutual 
adjustment of its several parts is quickly mastered. 
It is, therefore, not to a mysterious subject, but to one 
easily understood, that I now invite your attention. 
The subject is the horse's foot^ and hoiu to shoe it. 

One of the greatest obstacles in the way of reforma- 
tion — for nearly all admit that our system of caring 
for and shoeing the horse's foot is simply atrocious — 
is to be found in the ignorance of the average 
smith. I would not speak disrespectfully of any man, 
or class of men, who earn their living by the sweat 
of their brow ; for their industry commends them to 
courteous mention : but it is a fact, that the average 
horse-shoer of the country is distinguished chiefly by 
what he does not know, rather than by what he does 
understand, of the principles and uses of his craft. 
The only excuse that can be urged in his favor — 
and, to any candid and thoughtful person, it will, 
I doubt not, seem ample — is this : No one has ever 
taught him any thing. There has been literally no 
avenue of knowledge open to him. In ancient times, 
veterinary surgeons were the smiths ; and by them 
gentlemen were taught how to shoe their own horses. 
It was the duty of the veterinary to do this. The edu- 
cation of no knight was regarded adequate for a mar- 
tial career until he was thoroughly instructed in the 
principles and practice of farriery. It was not beneath 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 231 

the pride of a noble to desire to excel in protecting 
the feet of his gallant steed ; and no one, either noble or 
base-born, could presume to touch a foot to fit a shoe to 
it, unless he had been regularly and fully instructed in 
the art of farriery, any more than a physician could now 
be admitted to practise, or a lawyer to plead, unless 
they had gone through the necessary medical or legal 
study. By this method the smiths were made intelli- 
gent, and worthy of popular support; and, to every 
young man wishing to acquire the art of farriery, means 
were not lacking. But to-day, and especially in this 
country, our young men are not taught at all, and can- 
not be taught, save as to the merest mechanical part of 
the trade ; because the person under whom they are is 
as ignorant as they are touching the anatomy of the 
horse's foot, and the literature of the subject, which is 
rich in suggestion and fact ; and, indeed, differs from the 
apprentice in. nothing save as to his years. In such a 
state of things, no advance in proficiency can be made. 
Each generation has the same knowledge, and lack of 
knowledge, as the preceding ; and the poor horse con- 
tinues to suffer. 

In addition to this, we must add another consideration, 
in order that the statement of our position may be ac- 
curate; viz., that, if the smiths are ignorant, the owners 
of horses, for the most part, are even more so. Inquire 
among your acquaintances, and you will find that not one 
man in a hundred has any idea of the subject at all. He 
reads an advertisement in praise of some patent shoe, 



232 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

and blindly adopts it ; or else, with equal blindness and 
indifference, leaves every thing to the almost equally 
ignorant smith. Between the two, one can imagine 
how the poor horse must fare. It is astonishing to 
me that men can be so careless as to property so ex- 
posed to hazard as are horses, especially when, at a 
trifling expense of time and money, they might become 
tolerably well informed in respect to the matter. Now, 
I submit that the first thing that a man who owns a 
horse should obtain is knowledge of the foot, and the 
best method of protecting it ; because it is the foot, and 
the condition of it, on which depends the value of the 
animal, whether he be kept for pleasure or profit. The 
owner of a horse should first study the foot in its anat- 
omy and use, until every bone and particle are well 
known to him in their location, character, and use. The 
way that Nature feeds and nourishes its several parts ; 
the points that need artificial defence, and how pro- 
tected ; the diseases to which it is liable ; the curative 
applications and contrivances needed when the organ 
becomes injured or diseased, — these points, and other 
like ones, should receive close and prolonged attention 
until they become perfectly familiar. This is the prin- 
ciple universally adopted and put in practice touching 
any other class of property. The reason why this is not 
the practice of horsemen is not certainly found in 
any difficulty about understanding the subject to be 
studied. As I have said before, there is no mystery 
about the matter, save such as ignorance and passion, 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 233 

on tlie part of those treating of it, have thrown around 
it. The foot of the horse, unlike the human foot, is 
very simple in its construction. The human foot is 
complex, filled with a multitude of bones tied together 
by manifold attachments, threaded in all directions with 
blood-vessels, and braced and held together by bunches 
and layers of muscle and cartilage, which, in conjunction 
with the other parts, make it simply bewildering to any 
eye save the trained organ of the surgeon or the anato- 
mist. But, with the horse's foot, the case is precisely 
the reverse. It has but few bones ; its venous system is 
not elaborate ; its parts few ; and its construction exceed- 
ingly simple, and so perfect, that the use of each is 
plainly advertised. Nature's design, in the wall, sole, 
bars, and frog, is not left to conjecture : it is clearly re- 
vealed. Nor is it difficult to ascertain the location of the 
bones of the foot, or any other essential part of the organ. 
Nor is it necessary for one to enter into an elaborate 
scientific description of the internal structure of the foot : 
such description is not called for in a work designed 
for suggestion and popular instruction, rather than for 
professional service. Touching the value of the foot, 
nothing need be said ; since it is universally acknowl- 
edged to be superlative. A horse without sound feet 
is no horse at all ; that is, the uses and services 
for which Nature designed him he can never per- 
form. The preservation of the foot in its natural state, 
which generally is the perfect state, is of prime neces- 
sity. The main divisions of the foot are these : 1. The 



234 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

wall ; 2. The sole ; 3. The frog ; 4 The bars. The use 
of the wall is evidently to defend the internal parts of 
the foot, and furnish a support for the body. The sole 
has a twofold division, composed of the outer or nan- 
sensitive sole, — the design of which is to protect the 
ground-surface of the foot from contusion, and assist the 
wall in sustaining the superincumbent weight, — and 
the sensitive sole, the use of which is to assist the horse, 
by the sense of touch, in placing his foot to the ground in 
such a way as to favor it, and to feed the outer sole 
with the material of which it is made. 

The sense of touch to which I have alluded is a most 
essential power to the horse ; for it enables him, in the 
very act and instant of placing his foot to the ground, to 
do just what all boys do when running with bare feet, — 
viz., favor that side or section of the foot upon which, 
by reason of inequality of the ground, undue pressure is 
brought. It is not by his eyes that a boy saves his feet 
from contusion : there is a power located in his foot, a 
power of interpreting danger before it has become 
dangerous, by which, although his foot has actually 
struck the ground, he is nevertheless able to throw the 
weight off from that section of the foot Avhich is being 
unduly exposed. A horse, in one sense, does literally /ee^ 
his way along. The weight of his body is thrown upon 
this side of his foot or that, this end or that, just as he 
feels the necessity of it ; and this lightning-like adjust- 
ment of his weight, according to the feeling of his foot, 
is caused by the action of a sense so quick, that it is done 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 235 

after the foot has actually come in contact with the 
ground. 

It is also by means of this inner or sensitive sole that 
the secretions which feed the outer sole are deposited. 
On the other hand, the outer sole has for its use the 
work of protecting the inner sole both from contact 
with the ground and also with the atmosphere. This 
atmospheric contact results in absorbing the natural 
moisture until it becomes desiccated, or parched, so that 
great cracks and rents appear in it, as the farmer in 
August, on a clay bottom, finds great rents and cracks 
in the soil. In short, the outer sole is Nature's shield and 
Nature's stuffing for the inner sole, to ward off, on the 
one hand, the blows that might otherwise smite it ; and, 
on the other hand, to keep its juices, by the means of 
which the sole of the foot is being supplied with 
needed nutrition, from being dried up. At this point 
we may properly inquire. If this is the use and office 
of the outer sole, if it holds such an important rank in 
the order of natural provision for the sound condition 
and healthy growth of the foot, why is it ever pared 
away ? This is my answer : The reason is, because 
people are ignorant, and blindly follow a stupid and 
barbarous custom, instead of pausing to reflect upon 
what they are doing. Ask any smith why he pares 
out the sole of a foot, and he can give you no 
reason save that he has been taught to do so. And 
who, pray, taught him? Some one as ignorant as 
he, I repty. And so, generation after generation, a 



236 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

barbarous and indefensible act has been committed, to 
the premature breaking-down of many vahiable horses, 
the actual maiming of not a few, and the painful 
torturing of some. 

No form of flesh is more sensitive to pain than the 
inner substance of the horse's foot. Its power of sen- 
sitiveness is like that which lies sleeping under a human 
finger-nail. To protect this from hurt and undue press- 
ure. Nature has put this hard, horny shield, — viz., the 
outer sole ; and yet I have often sat and seen an igno- 
rant smith hack and hew and pare away this natural 
protection until he could actually indent it with his fin- 
gers, and little drops of blood oozed forth from within. 
Imagine the feelings of the horse after having been put 
into the shafts ! He was driven forth into the dust and 
gravel of the streets, or sent pounding along a stone 
pavement, with nothing but the thmnest possible fila- 
ment of horn -substance left between the exquisite inner 
organization of the foot, and the dirt, gravel, and stones 
on which he was travelling. And yet this method of 
procedure is not only tolerated by gentlemen of wealth 
and character, but vindicated and held up as the 
model (!) method of preparing the foot for the emer- 
gencies of actual service. 

"The horn," says a recent writer, "is secreted from 
the living surface; and myriads of beautiful vascular 
and sensitive tufts dependent from this surface enter 
the horn-fibres to a certain depth, and play an important 
part in the formation of the sole. The newly-formed 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 237 

horn is soft and spongy, and incapable of resisting ex- 
posure to the air ; but, as it is pushed farther away from 
this surface by successive deposits of fresh material, it 
becomes old horn, loses its moisture, and, in doing so, 
acquires hardness and rigidity sufficient to withstand 
external influences: then it is subjected to wear; and, if 
this be insufficient to reduce it sufficiently, it falls off in 
scales. But the |)i'ocess of exfoliation is not a rapid 
one : the flakes remain attached to the solid horn be- 
neath, more or less firmly, until it, in turn, commences to 
loosen on the surface, and yield new flakes ; when the 
old ones separate. This natural diminution in the ex- 
cess of horn of the sole is a most beneficial process for 
the hoof Horn is a slow conductor of heat and cold, 
and, when thick, retains moisture for a long period. 
These flakes, then, act as a natural 'stopping' to the 
hoof by accumulating and retaining moisture beneath ; 
and this not only keeps the foot cool as it slowly evapo- 
rates, but insures for the solid and growing horn its 
toughness, elasticity, and proper development. In ad- 
dition to this, every flake acts more or less as a spring 
in warding off bruises or other injuries to the sole ; and 
thus the floor of the horny box is protected from in- 
jury externally and internally. 

"What occurs when the farrier — following out the 
routine of his craft, or obeying the injunctions 'of those 
as ignorant as himself, or so prejudiced as not to be able 
to reason — pares the sole until it springs to the press- 
ure of his thumb ? Why, the lower surface of the foot 



238 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

— that which is destined to come into contact with the 
ground, and to encounter its inequahties, and which, 
more than any other part, requires to be efficiently 
shielded — is at once ruthlessly denuded of its protec- 
tion, and exposed to the most serious injury. The im- 
mature horn, suddenly stripped of its outer covering, 
immediately begins to experience the evil effects of ex- 
ternal influences. It loses its moisture, dries, hardens, 
and shrivels up. It also occupies a smaller space ; and, 
in doing so, the sole becomes more concave, drawing 
after it the wall, — for it must be remembered that the 
sole is a strong stay against contraction of the lower 
margin of the hoof, — and the consequence is, that the 
foot gradually decreases in size, and the quarters and 
heels narrow. The animal goes ' tender,' even on 
smooth ground; but, if he chance to put his mutilated 
sole on a stone, what pain must he experience ! This 
tenderness on even ground or smoothly-paved roads 
arises from the fact, that not only is the entire sensitive 
surface compressed, irritated, or inflamed, by the hard, 
contracting envelope, and the unnatural exposure to 
sudden changes of heat and cold, but the little sensitive 
processes contained at the upper end of each of the horn-- 
fibres are painfully crushed in their greatly-diminished 
tubes ; and, instead of being organs of secretion and the 
most delicate touch, they are now scarcely more than 
instruments of torture to the unfortunate animal. Not 
only is pain or uneasiness experienced during progres- 
sion, but, even in the stable, the horse whose soles have 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 239 

been so barbarously treated exhibits tenderness in his 
feet by resting them ; and, if felt, a great increase of 
temperature will be perceived. 

" Owing to the secreting apparatus of the sole being 
deranged through this senseless paring, the formation 
of new horn takes place slowly ; and it is not until a 
certain quantity has been provided to compensate in 
some degree for that removed that the horse begins to 
stand easier and travel better. Scarcely, however, has 
the restorative process advanced to this stage, before it 
is time for him to be reshod ; when this part must again 
submit to be robbed of its horn. 

" The sole having been pared too thin and concave 
leaves the circumference of the hoof standing much 
higher than if it had been left intact, and apparently 
too long: so the wall must be still more reduced. 
This is done ; and we now have the whole ground-face 
of the hoof so wasted and mutilated, that, should the 
horse chance to lose a shoe soon after being shod, the 
impoverished foot cannot bear the rude contact of 
the ground for more than a few yards, and the poor 
creature is lame and useless. 

" The tenderness and lameness arising from this mal- 
treatment are usually ascribed to every thing but the 
right cause ; and the most popular is concussion. To 
avert this, and protect the defenceless sole, a most 
absurd shoe is required ; and, still more absurd, the 
natural covering is attempted to be replaced by a plate 
of leather interposed between the ground and the sole, 



240 THE I^ERFECT HOUSE. 

and wliicli is made to retain bundles of tow steeped in 
tar or some pernicious substance. It is scarcely neces- 
sary to say that this artificial covering is but a poor 
substitute for that which has been so foolishly, and with 
so much careful labor, cut away : indeed, in several 
respects, the leather sole, even when only placed be- 
tween the wall and the shoe, and not over the entire 
surface, is very objectionable. 

" Seeing, therefore, the natural provision existing in 
the sole of the hoof for its diminution in thickness 
when necessary, and knowing that the intact sole is the 
best safeguard against injury and deterioration to this 
region, it must be laid down as a rule in farriery, — and 
from which there must be no departure, — that this part 
is not to be interfered with, on any pretence, so long as 
the foot is in health : not even the flakes are to be 
disturbed. 

" Paring the Frog. — This part of the hoof is that 
which, in the opinion of the grooms and coachmen, most 
requires cutting., ' to prevent its coming on the ground, 
and laming the horse ; ' and this reason, together with 
its softer texture, causes it to be made the sport of the 
farrier's relentless knife. It is artistically and thorough- 
ly trimmed, the fine elastic horn being sliced away, 
sometimes even to the quick ; and, in its sadly-reduced 
form, it undergoes the same changes as have been ob- 
served in the pared sole. No wonder, then, that it can- 
not bear touching the ground any more than the sole. 
Strip the skin off the sole of a man's foot, and cause 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 241 

him to travel over stony or pebbly roads : would lie 
walk comfortably and soundly ? " 

Concerning tlie use of the frog, there exists much 
disagreement of opinion among those who are supposed 
to know all that is worth knowing about the equine 
structure. Fleming, in his " Practical Horse- Shoeing," — 
a book of value to the student of this subject, — thus 
describes the frog : — 

" The liorny frog is an exact reduplication of that 
within the hoof, described as the sensitive or fatty frog. 
It is triangular, or rather pyramidal, in shape ; and is 
situated at the back part of the hoof, within the bars, 
with its point, or apex, extending forward to the centre 
of the sole, and its base, or thickest portion, filling up 
the wide space left between the inflections of the wall. 
In the middle of the posterior part is a cleft, which, in 
the healthy state, should not be deep, but rather shallow, 
and sound on its surface. 

" In structure, this body is also fibrous, the fibres pass- 
ing in the same direction as those of the other portions 
of the hoof; but instead of being quite rectilinear, like 
them, they are wavy or flexuous in their course, and 
present some microscopical peculiarities, which, though 
interesting to the comparative anatomist, need not be 
alluded to here. The fibres are finer than those of the 
sole and wall, and are composed of cells arranged in the 
same manner as elsewhere in the hoof: they are formed 
by the villi which thickly stud the face of the membrane 
covering the sensitive frog. 

16 



242 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

"The substance of the horny frog is eminently elastic, 
and corresponds in the closest manner to the dense, elas- 
tic, epidemic pads on the soles of the feet of such ani- 
mals as the camel, elephant, lion, bear, dog, cat, &c., 
and which are evidently designed for contact with the 
ground, the support and protection of the tendons that 
flex the foot, to facilitate the springy movements of these 
creatures, and for the prevention of jar and injury to 
the limbs. 

"In the horse's foot, the presence of this thick, com- 
pressible, and supple mass of horn at the back of the 
hoof, its being in a healthy, unmutilated condition, and 
permitted to reach the ground while the animal is stand- 
ing or moving, are absolutely essential to the well-being 
of that organ, more especially should speed, in addition 
to weight-carrying, be exacted." 

The frog serves several uses, and is a most impor- 
tant organ. Lafosse, in 1754, wrote, — 

" The frog is composed of soft and compact horn, 
spongy and elastic in its nature, and serves as a cushion 
to the tendon Achilles. It ought to bear fully on the 
ground, as much for the facility as for the safety of 
the horse when in movement. It is," he adds, " the 
natural point d^ajppui of the flexor tendon." Some 
have supposed that another use of the frog was to 
expand the heels of the foot. They have an idea 
that it acts like a wedge driven in between the bars 
of the foot, and that, at every shock it receives when 
brought in contact with the ground, it is driven home, 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 243 

as it were, causing the bars and wall of the hoof to 
expand laterally. This " lateral-expansion " theory is 
at variance with my opinion. 

Practically there can be no lateral expansion of the 
horny substances of the foot. Much less likely is it 
that a soft, yielding, elastic substance like the frog 
could overcome the resistance of dense, solid, inelastic 
substance such as composes the walls, bars, and sole of a 
horse's foot. I do not say that by artificial processes, 
such as sawing and cutting and boring, the walls of the 
hoof cannot be laterally expanded, without the employ- 
ment of any great degree of skill, either; for it requires 
no great effort for a strong, able-bodied man to saw 
the leg off at the knee-joint, or where it makes its 
junction with the body, for that matter. A knife and 
saw in the hand of a hobbyist can do most any thing, 
I think that fifty dollars is a high price for .saioing 
open a horse's foot ; although some differ from me, and 
hold it to be astonishingly cheap. In this way, lateral 
expansion can indeed be gotten ; but in no other way. 
It is this " lateral- expansion " theory which has been a 
source of torture to the horse. In order to accommo- 
date its claim, soles have been pared away until the 
blood trickled ; bars dug out until not the least trace 
of them remained ; Nature's cushion — the frog — been 
shaved down until only a little line and fragment of it 
was left; heels wedged open with forcible pressures, 
and even lacerated with the teeth of a saw: and the 
edge of the satire is felt only when we remember 



244 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

that the theory is a humbug ; that lateral expansion is 
a thing that does not exist in the hoof of a horse, and 
could not exist without imperilling its entire service. 
The inference from what we have said is this (and it 
would be well if. every reader would accept it as a 
law in shoeing) : Never allow the knife to touch the 
sole of your horse's foot, nor the least bit of it be pared 
away ; because Nature needs the full bulk of it, and 
has amply provided for its removal at the proper time, 
without assistance from you. And, secondly, never 
allow a knife to be put to the frog;, because Nature 
never provides too much of it to answer the purpose 
for which the Creator designed it; and the larger it 
is, the more swiftly, easily, and safely will your 
horse go. 

The bars of the foot are but the prolongation of the 
outer wall of the hoof Their object is to protect the 
frog, and strengthen the foot itself Their value in 
this direction can scarcely be over-estimated. To cut 
them away is like removing the beams that keep the 
walls of a house from falling outward or crushing 
inward. If a healthy foot is placed upon a glass 
stand, it will be seen that the ground-surface of the 
wall, bars, and frog, all bear the relative proportion 
of weight. These might be called the three great 
pillars on which the body of the horse, like some 
dome upheld by three columns, stands. To shorten or 
remove two of these three columns is, of course, fatal. 
The dome is of such weight as to crush the sole 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 245 

remaining support. This is precisely the condition 
of things under the common vicious system of shoeing. 
The bars are cut away so that they cannot touch the 
earth; the frog is pared down the same way; the sole, 
also, is gouged out: and the result is, that nothing is 
left but the wall of the hoof to support the vast bulk 
and weight above. When you remember that the wall 
is very thin, — scarcely half an inch in thickness where 
it touches the ground, — you Avill share with me the 
surprise, not that so many horses "pound their feet 
up " and break down, or "give out in their feet" as 
the saying is, but that any horses survive at all. The 
true way is to let every thing grow, and grow to the 
fullest extent that Nature designs it to reach: and, 
in shoeing, seek only to protect from too rapid destruc- 
tion what Nature has put together ; least of all cut away 
that which Nature has provided so abundantly, and 
more efficiently than the art and skill of man can ever 
hope to effect. And this brings me to the preparation 
of the foot for the shoe. 

The only preparation that the frog, bars, and sole 
require in a healthy, natural foot, as we have shown, is 
to be let alone. The only portion of the foot that need 
be or should be touched is the ground-surface of the 
wall. This should be levelled with knife or rasp (better 
with the rasp than with the knife, as we think) until 
the proper angle which the hoof should make with the 
ground has been reached ; and this is all. This angle 
of the ground-surface is apt to be unattended to. The 



246 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

angle which is generally given is that of 45°: but this' 
is evidently wrong; and our wonder is that any one 
should have suggested or indorsed it. In speaking of 
this angle, Fleming says, — 

"It will be obvious that this inclination also varies with 
the breeding of the animal and the conformation of the 
luTibs, so that no definite degree can be assigned. But 
it must be pointed out, that giving the angle of 45°, as 
is done in almost every treatise on shoeing and the 
anatomy of the foot, is a grave error. Looked at in 
profile, a hoof with this degree of obliquity would at 
once be pronounced a deformity. The slope is too 
great (Fig. 1) ; and, if the farrier were to attempt to 
bring every foot he shod to this standard, he would in- 
flict serious injury, not only 
on the foot itself, but also on 
the back-tendons and the 
joints of the limbs. Careful 
measurement will prove that 
TigTT" the obliquity of the front of 

the hoof is rarely, if ever, in a well-shaped leg and foot, 
above 50° ; and that it is, in the great majority of cases,- 
nearer 56°. The sides, or ' quarters,' of the wall, are 
less inclined, though the outer is generally more so 
than the inner ; while the heels are still more vertical, 
and the inner may even incline slightly inward. Yiewed 
in profile, the posterior face of the hoof will be ob- 
served to have the same degree of slope as the front 
face. In height, the heels are usually a little more 




THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 247 

than one-half that of the toe. Both heels are equal in 
height." 

Generally speaking, the toes are left too long. It 
should be remembered that it is the front portion of the 
foot that would be most worn, were it not protected by 
the shoe ; and, owing to this fact, feet with projecting 
toes would never occur in nature. The length of the 
human foot could not be materially increased without 
greatly incommoding us when walking or running ; and 
so, when the front of the horse's hoof is allowed to pro- 
trude as we often see it, he labors under great incon- 
venience, and possibly pain, when in motion. The sug- 
gestion of Nature is, that the toe should be kept duly 
shortened, the front edge of the shoe drawn a little back 
from the rim of the wall, and rounded, so that the metal 
will take the shape which the hoof would have if the 
wall were undefended with metallic covering, and ex- 
posed to the friction at every spring. 

I propose, at this point, to quote at length from a 
treatise, on the same subject of which we are treating, 
by Lafosse, a French veterinarian and author, who wrote 
in the first half of the eighteenth century, and from 
whose works more ideas have been taken, without any 
acknowledgment, by the writers of the last fifty years on 
the horse's foot, than from any other author in any branch 
of literature that I can recall. Lafosse, according to 
my judgment, is the wisest man who ever wrote upon 
the subject. Indeed, no considerable improvement has 
been made, as I think, in what he wrote in regard to the 



248 THE PERFECT HOKSE. 

horse's foot, and how to treat it. Men have stolen from 
him right and left. His works have been the great 
thesaurus from which literary thieves have filched their 
boasted opinions. Even his errors they have adopted, 
and given him no credit for them ! Principles which 
he discovered, believed in, published, and afterwards 
disproved and threw overboard, they have taken, put 
into a metallic shape, patented, and advertised them to 
the world as new discoveries. At the feet of this wise 
teacher I sit gladly as a pupil ; and I feel that I can do 
no greater service to the horsemen of America than 
to introduce into these pages certain portions of his 
works. At one point, he is speaking of the errors em- 
bodied in the then system of shoeing; and his words 
are applicable unto us of this day. I cannot do better 
than to transcribe numerically some of the points he 
makes. He says, — 

" 1. Long shoes, thick at the heels, never remain 
firmly attached to the feet in consequence of their 
weight, and break the clinches of the nails. 

" 2. They require proportionately large nails to re- 
tain them ; and these split the horn ; or, frequently, their 
thick stalks press against the sensitive laminae and sole, 
and cause the horse to go lame. 

" 3. Horses are liable to pull off these long shoes 
when the hind-foot treads upon the heel of the fore- 
shoe, either in walking, while standing, by putting tlie 
one foot upon the other, between two paving-stones in 
the pavement, between the bars of gates, in the draw- 
bridges of fortifications, or in heavy ground. 



THE HOKSE's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 249 

" 4. They move heavily, as the weight of their shoes 
fatigues them. 

" 5. Long shoes with massive heels raise the frogs 
from the ground, and prevent the horse walking on 
those parts. Then, if the horse has a humor in the 
frog, it becomes a ficthrush, or crapaud (canker), be- 
cause the humor lodges there. In shoeing with short 
shoes, the horse goes on his frog ; the humor is dissi- 
pated more easily, particularly in the fore-feet, as the 
animal places more weight upon them than the hind 
ones. 

" 6. Long shoes, thick at the heels, when put upon 
feet which have low heels, bruise, and bend them in- 
wards, and lame the horse, although the heel be sprung ; 
and, when the foot is raised, we can see daylight between 
the shoe and the hoof When it is on the ground, the 
heel descends to the shoes, because the hoof is flexible. 

" 7. Shoes long and strong at the heels, when the 
foot is pared, — the frog being removed a long distance 
from the ground, — cause many accidents ; such as the 
rupture or straining of the flexor tendon, and compres- 
sion of the vascular sole, — a circumstance not known 
until I pointed it out. 

" 8. Long shoes cause horses to slip and fall, because 
they act like a patten on the slippery pavement, as well 
in summer as in winter. 

" 9. Long shoes are also injurious when horses lie 
like a cow, in consequence of the heels wounding the 
elbows. 



250 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

"10. Calkins should not be used on paved roads: 
they are only useful on ice or slippery ground, — terre 
grasse. 

"11. The calkins on the inside heels are liable to 
wound the coronets when the horse happens to cross 
his feet. 

"12. A horse shod with them is soon fatigued, and 
never goes easy. 

"13. The horse which has only a calkin on the out- 
side does not stand fair ; and the calkin confines the 
movement of the coronary articulation, the foot being 
twisted to one side. 

"14. If a horse has his feet pared, and loses a shoe, 
he 'cannot travel without breaking and bruising the 
wall, and damaging the horny sole, because the horn is 
too thin to protect it. 

" 15. If the shoes are long, and the heels of the hoof 
pared out hollow, stones and pebbles lodge between the 
shoe and the sole, and make the horse lame. 

"16. Flat feet become convex by hollowing the 
shoes to relieve the heels and the frog, because, the 
more the shoes are arched from the sole, the more 
the wall of the hoofs is squeezed and rolled inwards, 
particularly towards the inner quarter, which is the 
weakest. The sole of the foot becomes convex, and 
the horse is nearly always unfit for service. 

"17. If the wall of the hoof is thin, and the shoes 
are arched, the quarters are so pressed upon, that the 
horse is lame. 



THE HOESE'S foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 251 

" 18. Pared hoofs are exposed to considerable injury 
from wounds by nails, stones, glass, &c. 

" 19. The pared sole readily picks up earth or sand, 
which forms a kind of cement between it and the shoe, 
and produces lameness. 

"20. The reason why it is dangerous to pare the feet 
of horses, is because, when the sole is pared, and the 
horse stands in a dry place, the horn becomes desiccated 
by the air which enters it, and removes its moisture and 
its suppleness, and often causes the animal to be lame. 

"21. A habit to be abolished is that in which the far- 
rier, to save trouble, burns the sole with a hot iron, so 
as to pare it more easily. The result, often, is to heat 
the sensitive sole, and cripple the horse. 

"22. It often happens, that, to make the foot pleasant 
to look at, the horn of the sole is removed to the quick ; 
and the flesh springs out from it. This granulation is 
called a ' cherry ; ' and sometimes it makes the horse 
unserviceable for a considerable period. 

" 23. It -is the pared foot which is most affected with 
what is termed contracted or weak inside quarter, and 
which also lames the horse. 

" 24. It also happens that one or both quarters con- 
tract, and sometimes even the whole hoof : then, in con- 
sequence of its smallness, all the internal parts are 
confined in their movements. This lames the horse, and 
is due to paring. 

" 25. There also occurs another accident. When the 
quarter becomes contracted, the hoof splits in its lateral 



252 THE PERFECT HOJISE. 

aspect. This accident is termed 'a sand-crack,' — se^me, 
— and the horse is lame. 

" 26. The fashion of paring the hoofs, and especially 
the heels, within which are the bars, causes contraction ; 
and this renders the horse lame. 

"27. It is an abuse to rasp the hoofs of horses : this 
alters the hoof, and forms sand-cracks. 

"28. If a horse which has pared hoofs happens to lose 
his shoes, and walks without them, the horn is quickly- 
used, and the feet damaged. 

"29. Another defect is in the manner of making large 
nail-holes in the shoes, &c. 

"30. The majority of farriers, in order to pare the 
sole well, cut it until it bleeds ; and, to stop the hemor- 
rhage, they burn the place with a hot iron, and the 
horse returns lame to his stable." 

In reference to this, Fleming says, — 

" We see, then, that the curse of paring and heavy 
shoes was causing great evils in the days of Lafosse, as 
much as in our own. After enumerating all the vices 
and defects of shoeing as it was then practised, he pro- 
ceeds to lay the foundation for a rational method ; and 
his remarks to this end are particularly happy. In a 
state of nature, he observes, all the inferior parts of the 
foot concur to sustain the weight of the body : then we 
observe that the heels and the frogs — the parts said to 
be most exposed — are never damaged by wear ; that 
the wall, or crust, is alone worn in going on hard ground ; 
and that it is only this part which must be protected, 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 253 

leaving the other parts free and unfettered in their 
natural movements. These are the true and simple 
principles of good farriery he lays down; and they are 
as approj^riate and explicit to-day as they were then." 

Lafosse goes on to say, — 

" To prevent horses slipping on the dry, glistening 
pavement, — jpave sec et jplomhe^ — it is necessary to 
shoe them with a crescent-shaped shoe, — that is, a shoe 
which only occupies the circumference of the toe, and 
whose heels gradually thin away to the middle of the 
quarters, — so that the frog and heels of the hoof bear 
on the ground, and the weight be sustained behind and 
before, but particularly in the latter, because the weight 
of the body falls heaviest there. The shorter the shoe is, 
the less the horse slips ; and the frog has the same influ- 
ence in preventing this that an old hat placed under our 
own shoes would have in protecting us from slipping on 
ice. 

"It is necessary, nevertheless, that hoofs which have 
weak walls should be a little longer shod, so that the 
gradually thinning branches reach to the heels, though 
not resting upon them. For horses which have thin, con- 
vex soles, — ^i'ec/s combles, — these long shoes should be 
also used ; and the toes should be more covered to pre- 
vent the sole touching the ground : at the same time, 
the shoe must be so fitted that it does not press upon 
the sole, and the heels and frog rest upon the ground. 
This is the only true method of preserving the foot, and 
restoring it. ... A horse which has its heels weak and 



254 



THE PERFECT HORSE. 




Fig. 2. 



sensitive ouglit to be shod as short as possible, and with 
thin branches, — ejjonges, — so that the frog comes in con- 
tact with the ground ; because the heels, having nothing 
beneath them, are benefited and relieved (Fig. 2). 

" Crescent shoes are all the 
more needful for a horse which 
has weak, incurvated quarters, 
as they not only relieve them, 
but also restore them to their 
natural condition. Horses which 
have contusions at the heels — 
hleimes^ corns — should also be 
shod in this manner; and for 
cracks — seimes^ sand-cracks — 
at the quarter it is also advan- 
Tlie sole, or frog, should never he pared : the 
wall alone should be cut down, if it is too long. When 
a horse cuts himself with the opposite foot, the inner 
branch of the shoe ought to be shorter and thinner than 
the outer. In order that the shoe wear a long time, I 
have used a nail of my invention, the head of which is 
in the form of a cone, and the aperture in the shoe of 
the same shape, and exactly filled 'by the nail. How- 
ever much the shoe may be worn, it is always retained 
in its place. This kind of nail (Fig. 2) possesses three 
other advantages : one, that it is less liable to be broken 
at the neck, because it exactly fits the stamped hole ; the 
other, that it is smaller, and, in consequence, not likely 
to press on the sensitive part of the foot ; and, lastly, 
that it does less damasre to the horn. 



tageous, 



THE HOESE'S foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 255 

" By this new mode of shoeing, all the defects and ac- 
cidents attendant upon the old method are evaded." 

In another place he gives directions for shoeing good 
hoofs on horses kept for general service, as follows : — 

" The shoes must not be too long, or project beyond 
the heels, but only reach the bars; neither must the 
hoofs, behind or before, be pared. The wall, or crust, 
alone should be diminished in proportion as it may be 
too long. This should be done evenly ; and neither the 
sole nor frog must be cut : the latter should be allowed 
to project, if possible, above the shoe, so that it may 
come into contact with the ground. The shoe ought to 
be about the same strength throughout, or a little 
thicker and wider in the outer branch of the fore-foot, 
and thin at the heels of the hind one. Be careful to 
stamp the nail-holes on the same line, not in a zigzag 
manner. The holes should not be too coarse, as there 
is then danger of pricking the horse, or binding the 
hoof with the stalk of the nail. The shoe should be 
stamped coarser outside than inside, because it may 
be necessary to leave it wider outside. Do not bend 
the shoes in adjusting them, nor arch them: they 
ought to be nearly flat ; though they might be slightly 
curved, so as to preserve the wall of the hoof They 
should also follow the outline of the hoof, — a little more 
to the outside than the inside. When fittinof, the shoe 
should not be kept too long a time on the hoof, for 
fear of heating it. With this shoeing we may travel 
on slippery ground or grass land, in using for each 



256 THE PERFECT HQESE. 

shoe two nails with long heads, which will prevent the 
horse from slipping. Also during frost, on paved 
roads, or ice or snow, use these nails, as they prevent 
slipping : the roads being hard, three nails are required, 
— two in the outer branch, and one in the inner." 

Reverting to the defective shoeing of his time, 
he endeavors to demonstrate, that, by removing the 
horn of the frog, and points of the heels, from the 
ground, the animal's footing on paved roads is much 
less secure. 

"The draught-horse," he says, "first places his weight 
on the toe, then on the two sides of the hoof; and 
afterwards the heels are lowered to meet the heel 
of the shoe. The saddle-horse rests more lightly on 
the toe. The canon (or shank-bone) presses on the 
pastern-bone, this on the coronary, and this again on 
the coffin and navicular bones. From this disposition, 
we should note two important points which throw light 
on the defects of the present method, and indicate how 
to remedy them : one is, that the strain of the weight 
is neither fixed on the toe nor heel, but between the 
two; the other, that the more the frog is removed 
from the ground, or from any point of support, the 
more the pressure of the coronary on the navicular 
bone fatigues the tendon on Avhich it rests, in conse- 
quence of the excessive extension it experiences at 
each step the horse takes. The frog ought, therefore, 
to rest on the ground, as much for the facility as for 
the surety of the horse's movements ; as the larger the 




m^ 






i' 



THE HOESE'S foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 257 

frog is, SO the less do the heels meet the ground ; and 
the more the heels are relieved, the greater ease does 
the horse experience in progression. The only way 
to insure this is to shoe him according to the method I 
have indicated, as this causes him to walk on his frog, 
which is the natural prop or basis — ijoint d\ij)]^id — 
for the flexor tendon." 

Fleming, in quoting this passage from Lafosse, 
says, — 

"The whole aim of Lafosse's teaching appears to have 
been wisely devoted to the importance of allowing the 
posterior parts of the foot to rest on the ground with- 
out the intervention of the shoe." 

Again we select from Lafosse's work : — 

"It is useful and even necessary to put short shoes on 
all flat feet, particularly on those which have the form 
of an oyster-shell. Every flat foot has low heels ; but 
Nature, to remedy this defect, bestows a large frog to 
preserve these parts. We ought not, then, to pare 
the soles, much less cut them out towards the heels ; 
neither should the hoofs be too much rasped : all these 
practices are so many abuses which bring about the 
destruction of the horse's feet. The first abuse — 
hollowing out the heels — • is to destroy the horn which 
forms the bars, and prevents the heels and quarters 
from contracting : the second abuse — rasping the 
foot — is to destroy the strength of the hoof, and, con- 
sequently, to cause its horn to become dry, and the 
horny laminae beneath to grow weak : from this often 

17 



258 THE PERFECT HOUSE. 

arises an internal inflammation, wliicli renders tlie foot 
painful, and makes the horse go lame. 

" It ought to be always remembered, that the more 
a horse's foot is pared, so the more do we expose it to 
accidents. It is depriving it, in the first place, of a 
defence that Nature has given it against the hard and 
pointed substances it encounters; and in the second 
place, — and which is of the utmost advantage for both 
horse and rider, — in not paring the sole, and only using 
as much of a shoe as is necessary to protect the horn, 
the animal will be no longer liable to slip on bad roads 
in winter or summer, when they are vulgarly called 
plomhc, as will be shown. 

"1. Causing a horse to walk on the frog, and j^artly 
on the heel, the former is found to be rasped by the 
friction it experiences on the earth and paved road, 
and is pressed by the weight of the body into the little 
cavities and interstices it meets. 

" 2. By its flexibility, it takes the imprint and the 
contour, so to speak, of the ground it comes into con- 
tact with ; so that the foot rests on a greater number of 
parts, which, mutually assisting each other, multiply the 
points of support, and thereby give the animal more 
adherence to the surface on which he moves. We may 
even say that he acquires a kind of feeling in this part, 
through its correspondence with the fleshy sole, and from 
this to the tendon, — a feeling that I will not compare 
with that Ave experience when we walk with naked 
feet, but which is yet suGicient to warn him of the 



THE horse's foot, AiSTD HOW TO SHOE IT. 259 

counterpoise he ought to give to his body to maintain 
its equilibrium, and so preserve him from falHng, twist- 
ing, or stumbUng. 

" The object of shoeing, by him who first resorted to 
it, would only be as a preservative and a defence, as 
much for the wall as for the sole. But he would not 
add the condition of paring either the one or the other, 
I do not say to our excess, but in any way whatever ; 
because this would be contrary to his principle, and 
would destroy his work. 

" This precaution (paring) can only be recommended 
in cases where the horn is rugged, and the shoe does 
not rest on it everywhere equally, thus opposing its 
solidity. In such a case it is right ; but otherwise it is a 
contradiction and an absurdity. I have often questioned 
those amateur horsemen who were particularly careful 
to have their horses' feet pared ; but none of them could 
demonstrate either its necessity or propriety. . . . The 
horny sole receives its nourishment from the vascular 
sole : its softness and pliancy are due to its thickness ; 
and its nourishment is diminished, while it becomes 
harder, in direct proportion to the thinness we give it. 
We even see horses, whose soles, are pared, habitually 
lame. The air, when the sole is in this state of thin- 
ness, penetrates and dries it to such a degree, that, if 
care is not taken to keep it damp when the animal is in 
a dry place, it contracts, and presses on the vascular 
sole ; so that, if some time after we wish to pare the 
sole again, it is not possible to do so, because it is so 



260 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

hard and dry that the houtoir will not touch it, and the 
horse goes lame. . . . What risk does a horse not incur 
who has nearly been deprived of his soles through this 
paring! If he encounters stones, broken glass, or 
nails, these easily penetrate to the sensitive sole, and 
cripple him for a long time, if not for ever. 

"When a horse loses a shoe, — a circumstance fre- 
quently occurring, — and if the hoof is pared, the animal 
cannot walk a hundred steps without going lame ; be- 
cause, in this state, the lower surface of the foot being 
hollowed, the horse's weight falls on the crust ; and this, 
having no support from the horny sole, is quickly 
broken and worn away; and, if he meets hard sub- 
stances on the road, he all the more speedily becomes 
lame. It is not so when the sole is allowed to retain its 
whole strength. The shoe comes off; but the sole and 
frog rest on the ground, and assist the crust in bearing 
the greater part of the weight of the body ; and the 
animal, though unshod, is able to pursue his journey 
safe and sound. 

"It is a fact, that every horse, except those which 
have the feet diseased and soles convex, and to which 
shoes are necessary to preserve the soles, may travel 
without shoes: and without going for an example to 
the Arabs, Tartars, &c., we will find it among our own 
horses, which, in the country, work every day without 
requiring shoes ; but as soon as our wisdom and skill are 
brought to bear in hollowing out the foot to the quick, 
and making a fine, equal, and symmetrical frog, — doing 



THE house's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 2G1 

it well and properly, as we say in France, — shoes 
become indispensably necessary. 

" I therefore ask all amateur horsemen to insure their 
horses as much as they can against this pretended per- 
fection. It may be asked, What will become of the 
horny sole if it is never pared ? and it may be feared, 
that, by its growth, the foot will become overgrown. 
Not at all ; for, in proportion to its growth, it dries, be- 
comes flaky, and falls off in layers. 

" The compressions so dangerous, which cause inflam- 
mation, would no more be dreaded if we left the horn 
of the sole, the bars, and the frog, entire. By their 
pliability, thickness, flexibility, texture, and the situa- 
tion they occupy, they appear to be solely destined by 
Nature to serve as a defence to the vascular sole, as the 
frog particularly acts as a cushion to the tendon Achilles ; 
all being disposed to obviate shock on paved roads, 
or injury from a stone, splinter, &c. 

"It is necessary to be convinced of another fact: this 
is, that it is rare that a horse goes at his ease, and is 
not promptly fatigued, if the frog does not touch the 
ground. As it is the only point of support, if you 
raise it from the ground by paring it, there arises an 
inordinate extension of the tendon, caused by the push- 
ing of the coronary against the navicular bone, as has 
been mentioned above, and which, being repeated at 
every step the animal takes, fatigues it, and induces in- 
flammation. From thence often arises the distention of 
the sheaths of tendons (inolettes / vulgo, ' windgalls '), 



262 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

engorgements, and swelling of the tendons, &c., that are' 
observed after long or rapid journeys. These accidents 
arise less from the length of the journey, as has been 
currently believed, than from the false practice of par- 
ing the sole. 

"I am astonished that this method of shoeing: has 
not been employed long ago ; and I have much trouble 
in persuading myself that I am the inventor. I am 
more inclined to believe that it is only a copy of that 
which has been practised by the first artist who thought 
about shoeing horses. 

" If my suspicions are correct, the oblivion into 
which it has fallen proves nothing against its perfection, 
because the good as well as the bad are alike liable to 
be forsfotten. The multitude, more credulous than en- 
lightened, are easily persuaded: hence the long, thick 
shoes, those with calkins, then with thick heels, and 
afterwards the thin. There is every reason to believe, 
that, if the poor animals for whom all this has been done 
could be allowed to speak as they must think, nothing 
of the kind would have taken place, and they would 
have preferred their ancient armature, which, having 
only been designed to preserve the crust, had certainly 
none of the inconveniences of that employed now-a- 
days." 

Fleming, at the close of his review of Lafosse, 
says, — 

" Lafosse's experience of this admirable mode of pro- 
tecting, while preserving, the foot, was derived from a 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 263 

trial of its advantages on more than eighteen hundred 
horses; and his success was most astonishing, though 
no more than might, on reflection, be anticipated." 

Lafosse goes on to observe, — 

" These short shoes, thin at the heels, have caused 
the horses to walk on their frogs, which are their points 
of support ; and those which were lame at the heels are 
sound again; those also whose inside quarters were 
contracted, bent over, and split (sand-crack), have been 
cured. It has been the same with horses whose quar- 
ters and heels have been contracted (encastele) : these 
have been widened, and have assumed a proper shape. 
The same may be said of those whose soles were con- 
vex (comhle)^ and which went lame with long shoes. 
My method has also preserved those horses which had a 
tendency to thrush (ijidgo, fie) and canker of the frog 
(crapaud). 

" If the horse be shod with calkins, there is a great 
space between the frog and the ground ; the weight of 
the body comes on the calkins ; the frog, which is in the ^ 
air, cedes to the weight ; the tendon is elongated ; and, 
if the horse makes a violent and sudden movement, the 
rupture of that organ is almost inevitable, because the 
frog cannot reach the ground to support it in the very 
place it ought to ; and, if the tendon does not break, the 
horse is lame for a long time from the great exten- 
sion of the fibres, some of which may have been rup- 
tured. ... If the horse be shod without heels to his 
shoes (eponges)^ the frog, which carries all the weight 



264 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

of tlie horse's body, yields at each step, and returns 
again to its original form. The tendon is never in a 
state of distraction : its fibres are no longer suceptible 
of violent distention during a sudden movement. I 
will go so far as to assert that rupture of the tendon 
will never occur on a flat pavement : if it does, it will 
be in the space between two paving-stones. Two 
things clearly follow from what I have said, — that it 
may happen that the tendon Achilles sustains all the 
different degrees of violence that can be imagined, from 
total rupture to the smallest abrasion of its fibres, which 
will cause the horse to go lame ; and it is on the frog 
alone that all these different degrees depend, as has 
been demonstrated more particularly in the histoiy of 
fracture of the navicular bone and the anatomy of 
the foot. My new shoeing, I repeat, has nothing to 
oppose it but prejudice. Anatomy, which has made 
known to me the structure of the foot, has demonstrated 
all its advantages, and experience has fully confirmed 
them." 

Fleming, who quotes essentially the same as the fore- 
going, well says, at the conclusion of the quotation, — 

" I regret extremely that our limits forbid my trans- 
lating at greater length from this splendid monograph ; 
but I hope that I have been able, to some extent, to 
show that Lafosse's ideas on shoeing were founded on 
sound anatomical and physiological principles, the result 
of close observation and experience. And yet they ap- 
pear to have made but little progress in the face of the 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 265 

opposition offered by ignorant grooms and farriers, who 
were incompetent to understand any thing but the mere 
every-day routine of the rapidly-degenerating art ; and 
the prejudice of those amateur horsemen, who, though 
the last perhaps to take upon trust statements relative 
to other matters, would yet believe every thing told 
them by these horse attendants and shoers. The far- 
riers of Paris, indeed, unanimously protested against the 
innovation two years after Lafosse had published his 
treatise ; and their protest appears to have carried the 
mind of the crowd." 

I presume that the same experience will be met in 
case of those authors, who, like myself, seek to bring 
forward these wise and salutary principles in farriery. 
I fear that popular ignorance, stupidity, and wilfulness 
will resist the introduction of all improvement in this 
matter; and, for a while longer, man and horse will 
continue to suffer. I am inclined, in this connection, to 
quote from W. Osmer's " Treatise on the Diseases and 
Lameness of Horses" (London, 1776). After warning 
farriers not to remove any thing more of the crust or 
wall of the hoof than is absolutely necessary, he says, — 

" In all broad, fleshy feet, the crust is thin, and 
should, therefore, suffer the least possible loss. On such 
feet the rasp alone is generally sufficient to make the 
bottom plain, and produce a sound foundation, ivith- 
out the use of the desperate buttress. . . . 

" The superficies of the foot round the outside now 
made plain and smooth, the shoe is to be made quite 



266 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

Jlat^ of an equal thickness all round the outside, and 
open and most narrow backwards, at the extremities 
of the heels, for the generality of horses. Those 
whose fi'ogs are diseased, either from natural or inci- 
dental causes, require the shoe to be wider backwards ; 
and, to prevent this fiat shoe from pressing on the sole 
of the horse, the outer part thereof is to be made 
thickest, and the inside gradually thinner. In such a 
shoe the frog is admitted to touch the ground, the 
necessity of which has been already shown : add to 
this, the horse stands more firmly on the ground, 
having the same points of support as in a natural state. 
Here, now, is a plain, easy method, agreeable to common 
sense and reason, conformable to the anatomical struc- 
ture of the parts, and therefore to the design of Nature, 
— a method so plain, that one would think nobody 
could ever swerve from it, or commit any mistake in 
an art where nothing is required but to make smooth 
the surface of the foot, to know what loss of crust 
each kind of foot will bear with advantage to itself, 
and to nail thereon a piece of iron adapted to the 
natural tread of the horse ; the design, good, or use 
of the iron being only to defend the crust from break- 
ing, — the sole wanting no defence^ if never ]}ared. . . . 

" The modern artist uses little difference in the treat- 
ment of any kind of foot, but, with a strong arm and 
a sharp weapon, carries all before him, and will take 
more from a weak-footed horse at one jDaring than 
Nature can furnish again in some months, whereby such 



THE HOESE's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 267 

are rendered lame. If a strong-footed horse, with 
narrow and contracted heels, be brought before him, 
such meets with treatment yet more severe. The bar 
is scooped out, the frog trimmed, and the sole drawn 
as thin as possible, even to the quick, under pretence 
of giving him ease, because, he says, he is hot- 
footed, or foundered; by which treatment the horse 
is rendered more lame than he was before." 
Fleming, in quoting Osmer, observes, — 
" This causes contraction of the hoof, and compression 
of the parts within ; and, besides, a shoe was applied 
thin on the outer circumference, and thick on the inner, 
which being concave to the foot, and convex to the 
ground, afforded but few points of support, removed the 
frog from pressure, and caused great mischief I pos- 
sess some specimens of this terrible instrument of last- 
century barbarism. It almost makes one shudder to 
think of the fearful agony the poor horses must have 
suffered when compelled to wear and work with it." 

Osmer concludes: "Let the shoe on every horse stand 
wider at the points of the heels than the foot itself: 
otherwise, as the foot grows in length, the heel of the 
shoe in a short time gets within the heel of the horse ; 
which pressure often breaks the crust, and produces 
a temporary lameness, perhaps a corn. Let every kind 
of foot be kept as short at the toe as possible (so as not 
to affect the quick) ; for, by a long toe, the foot becomes 
thin and weak, the heels low, and the flexor tendons 
of the leg are strained. The shortness of the toe helps, 



268 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

also, to widen the narrow heels. In all thin, weak- 
footed horses, the rasp should be laid on the toe in such 
a manner as to render it as thick as may be ; by which 
means the whole foot becomes gradually thicker, 
higher, and stronger. In all feet whose texture is very 
strong, the rasp may be laid obliquely on the fore-part 
of the foot, towards the toe, and the toe itself thinned, 
whereby the compression on the parts is rendered 
somewhat less by diminishing the strength of the hoof, 
or crust. 

" But this rasp is to be used with discretion, lest, the 
crust being too thin, and not able to support the 
weight of the horse, a sand-crack ensue; which fre- 
quently happens from too free or unskilful use of this 
tool, and from the natural rigid texture of the coronet. 
The heel of the shoe on all strons^ and narrow-heeled 
horses should be made straight at the extreme points; 
the form of the shoe in some measure helping to dis- 
tend the heel of the horse. For the same reason, the 
shoe on no horse should be continued farther than the 
point of the heel. It has been already said, that neither 
frog nor sole should ever be pared: nevertheless, it 
must be understood that it is impossible to pare the 
crust without taking away some of the adjacent sole ; 
and it is also requisite — in order to obtain a smooth and 
even surfice — so far as the breadth of the shoe reaches, 
and no farther. The frog, also, will become ragged; and 
loose pieces will occasionally separate from the body 
thereof, perhaps in one foot, and not in the other. 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 269 

"When this happens, it should be cut away with a knife, 
to prevent the gravel lodging therein; but, if it be 
left to the artist to do, he will be sure to take away 
more of it at one time than will grow again in many 
weeks." 

Some twenty years after Osmer published his protest 
against treating the horse's foot as if it were a block 
of wood on which a man could hack and hew and cut 
away at pleasure, j\Ir. J. Clark published a treatise 
upon farriery, in which he says, — 

"However necessary it has been found to fix ii'on 
shoes upon the hoofs of horses, it is certainly contrary 
to the original design of shoeing them, first to destroy 
their hoofs by paring, &c., and afterwards to put on the 
foot a broad, strong shoe to protect what remains, or 
rather to supply the defect or want of that substance 
which has been taken away. Yet, however absurd this 
manner of treating the feet of horses may appear, it is 
well known that it has been carried to a very great 
length, and still continues to be thought absolutely 
necessary. The destruction of their hoofs, and many 
other bad consequences arising from it, are every day 
but too apparent." 

And also this, which might be regarded as descrip- 
tive of the state of things : — 

" But no apology whatever can vindicate that per- 
nicious practice of cutting and paring their hoofs to that 
excess which is but too frequently done every time a 
horse is shoed, and, in order to repair the injury done to 



270 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

the foot, fix on it a strong, broad-brimmed shoe, from 
the very construction of which, together with the loss 
of its natural defence, horses too frequently are ren- 
dered totally useless. ... In preparing the foot for the 
shoe, the frog, the sole, and the bars, or binders, are 
pared so much, that the blood frequently appears. The 
shoe, by its form, — being thick on the inside of the 
rim, and thin upon the outside, — must, of consequence, 
be made concave, or hollow, on that side which is 
placed immediately next the foot, in order to prevent 
its resting on the sole. The shoes are generally of an 
immoderate weight and length ; and every means is 
used to prevent the frog from resting upon the ground 
by making the shoe-heels thick, broad, and strong, 
or raising cramps, or calkins, on them. From this 
form of the shoe, and from this method of treating 
the hoof, the frog is raised to a considerable height 
above the ground ; the heels are deprived of that sub- 
stance which was provided by Nature to keep the crust 
extended at a proper wideness; and the foot is fixed, 
as it were, in a mould. ... If we attend further to the 
convex surface of this shoe, and the convexity of the 
pavement upon which horses walk, it will then be evi- 
dent that it is impossible for them to keep their feet 
from slipping, especially upon declivities of streets. It is 
also a common practice, especially in this place, to turn 
up the heels of the shoes into what is called cramps, or 
calkins, by which means the weight of the horse is con- 
fined to a very narrow surface, — the inner round edge 



THE HOESE's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 271 

of the shoe-rim, and the points, or calkins, of each heel. 
The consequence is, that it throws the weight of the 
body forward upon the toes, and is apt to make the 
horse slip and stumble. 

"Farriers, in general, are too desirous to excel one 
another in making what is termed fine, neat work ; and 
that is no other than paring the sole till it yields easily 
under the pressure of 'the thumb : and, to give the frog 
a fine shape, it is frequently pared till the blood appears; 
to prevent the effusion of which, the actual cautery is 
sometimes applied. It is to be observed, that, when the 
sole is so much pared, it dries and hardens in proportion 
as it is thinned; and the strong, horny substance of the 
crust, overcoming the resistance from the sole, is thereby 
contracted. This will produce lameness, the real cause of 
which is overlooked, or little attended to. Among the 
many disadvantages that attend the common shoes, one 
is their being more liable to be pulled off, from their 
great weight, length, &c., especially in deep ground, in 
ridino; fast, or when the toe of the hinder foot strikes 
against the heel of the fore-shoe. To prevent this in- 
convenience, sixteen or eigliteen nails are frequently 
made use of, which destroy and weaken the crust by 
their being placed too near one another ; and it is not 
uncommon, when a shoe nailed in this manner is pulled 
off, that the crust on the outside of the nails breaks 
away Avith it. If this should happen a few days after 
the foot has been so finely pared (which is not unusual), 
or upon a journey, and at a distance from any place 



272 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

where a shoe may be immediately procured, the horse 
instantly becomes lame from the thinness of the sole and 
weakness of the crust, and is hardly able to support 
the weight of his own body, much less that of his rider." 

This, also, must have been prophetic in its application 
to our times : — 

" So much are farriers, grooms, &c., prejudiced in 
favor of the common method of shoeing and paring out 
the feet, that it is with difficulty they can even be pre- 
vailed upon to make a proper trial of it. They cannot 
be satisfied unless the frog be finely shaped, the sole 
pared, the bars cut out, in order to make the heels 
appear wide. This practice gives them a show of wide- 
ness for the time ; yet that, together with the concave 
form of the shoe, forwards the contraction 'of the heels, 
which, when confirmed, renders the animal lame for life. 
In this flat form of shoe its thickest part is upon the out- 
side of the rim, where it is most exposed to be worn; 
and, being made gradually thinner towards its inner 
edge, it is, therefore, much lighter than the common con- 
cave shoe, yet it will last equally as long, and with more 
advantage to the hoof; and, as the frog and heel are 
allowed to rest upon the ground, the foot enjoys the 
same points of support as in its natural state. It must, 
therefore, be much easier for the horse in his way of 
going, and be a means of making him surer-footed. It 
is likewise evident that from ihis shoe the hoof cannot 
acquire any bad form, when at the same time it receives 
every advantage that possibly could be expected from 



THE horse's foot, a:s^d ho"W to shoe it. 273 

shoeing. In tins respect it may very properly be said 
that we make the shoe to the foot, and not the foot to 
the shoe, as is but too much the case in the concave 
shoes, where the foot very much resembles that of a cat's 
fixed in a walnut-shell. ... I would observe, upon the 
whole, that the less substance we take away from the 
natural defence of the foot, except on particular occa- 
sions which may require it, the less artificial defence 
will be necessary ; the flatter we make the shoe, we give 
the horse the more points of support, and imitate the 
natural tread of the foot ; therefore, the nearer we follow 
these simple rules, the nearer we approach to perfection 
in this art." 

I have made these quotations — taken almost at ran- 
dom, from perhaps, on the whole, the three wisest teach- 
ers of the principles of correct shoeing and preserva- 
tion of the horse's foot that the world has ever had — 
principally for the purpose of impressing those who 
could be impressed in no other way than by the accu- 
mulated testimony of other men with a sense of the 
great mischief and evil that is done in cutting and filing 
away the frog, sole, and bars of the horse's foot, by the 
retention of which, in a natural state, the foot can be 
kept either strong or healthy. No form of shoe can be 
so vicious as to do such mischief and injury to the foot 
as the present paring and cutting system ; nor can any 
shoe be so good in its conformation as to remedy those 
ills that knife and buttress have occasioned. 

The truth is, we should do little or nothing to the 

18 



274 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

horse's foot, save to level it for the reception of the 
shoe. Nature, it should be remembered, works after a 
perfect model, — for I am not speaking of disease, — and 
the perfect cannot be improved by any assistance from 
us. Were it not for the fact that our roads are too 
hard for the foot to endure service on them unprotected, 
it were well not to shoe at all ; and, if we must shoe, 
shoe only so much as is absolutely necessary. The cres- 
cent shoe, or " tips" as they are commonly called, will, 
during the summer months, be sufficient for country 
service. These tips are thin, narrow plates of iron 
or steel, of some three ounces in weight, shaped to 
fit the toe of the foot, and to reach round a little on 
either side. The object of these tips is simply to 
protect the front portion of the foot from being 
too rapidly worn away. They leave the quarters, 
sole, frog, bars, and heels entirely unprotected, save as 
Nature provides. They are a most excellent form of 
shoe. I speak from experience, and not from theory 
alone. I have used horses of eleven hundred pounds 
weight, in farm-work and ordinary family service, on 
the road, for months together, with no protection to 
their feet save these tips, and found that their feet, 
which, at the beginning of the experiment, were in a 
most unsatisfactory condition, grew strong and well; 
and I recommend this form of shoeing to all my read- 
ers whose horses are exercised or worked in the coun- 
try. Indeed, I am under the impression that the feet 
of many horses would need no other protection even 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 275 

t 

for city service. It is astonishing how fast the foot will 
develop and increase when once brought m contact 
with the ground. Take off those high-heeled shoes 
from your horse, friend, which you have caused to be 
put on him in order to keep his frog from the ground, 
and let it come in contact with the ground at every 
step. For a few days, or even for a few weeks, joiw 
horse may favor himself somewhat : but Nature will 
soon accommodate herself to the new liberty granted 
her; viz., the liberty of helping herself She will soon 
build up a frog such as you never saw in your life, most 
likely, — a large, overlapping pad of gutta-percha-like 
substance, wide and thick, that feels no more the con- 
cussion, when brought in contact with the stone pave- 
ment, than the buffer under a rail-car feels the jolts as 
the train is being whirled along. 

Now, in respect to the full shoe, the first error in 
common practice to be noticed is, that it is too wide and 
thick. The lighter the shoe the better, should be the 
rule. A horse is never so sprightly and pliant in 
motion, so unlikely to stumble, or swift in movement, 
as when enjoying the liberty of nature. There is no 
sense or reason for the heavy, wide-webbed, long- 
heeled shoes so common with us. These are the spe- 
cific points of a good shoe, as I understand the matter : 
The shoe should be narrow, perfectly flat on the upper 
surface, — bevelled shoes are a nuisance, — light, thin at 
the heels, its ground-surface concave, and just as large 
as the foot. Such a shoe may be regarded as a model. 



276 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

Fleming is altogether right in the following description 
when he says, — 

^'■Pattern of SJioe recommended. — If the sole of the 
hoof has not been mutilated by the knife, it does not 
require to be covered by the shoe, as Nature has fur- 
nished an infinitely better protection. Wide-surface 
shoes can, therefore, be at once dispensed with ; and a 
narrow shoe — made of the very best and toughest iron, 
adapted for travelling on slippery roads, and for aiding 
foot and limb, and sufficient to withstand wear for four or 
five Aveeks — is all that is required. We will therefore 
conclude that the upper or foot surface should be the 
whole width of the shoe, and plane, — not bevelled, — 
for we have seen that the sole was destined, particu- 
larly at its junction with the wall in front, to sustain 
weight. We also know that it is advantageous to the 
whole foot and limb to allow the sole as wide and 
general a bearing as possible, so that one jDart may 
relieve the other ; the sole coming to the aid of the 
wall, and the frog interposing to share the fatigue im- 
posed upon both, as well as to relieve the sti'ain on the 
hinder-parts of the foot, flexor tendons, and limb, and 
keep a firm grasp of the ground by its elastic and adhe- 
sive properties. 

" The shoe applied to the foot, then, should have its 
hoof-surface flat, in order that it may sustain the wall 
and as much of this strong portion of the sole as its 
width permits. This is contrary to the usual practice, 
which onljr allows the wall to rest on a narrow surface, 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 277 

and bevels off the remainder of the shoe to prevent 
contact with the sole. Many years' experience of this 
plane foot-surfaced shoe in various regions of the globe, 
and on feet of every kind and quality, have proved the 
soundness of this view. The foot is brought as near to 
a state, of nature, when the greater part of its plantar 
surface supports the weight of the body, as man can 
hope to achieve while submitting the horse to an arti- 
ficial existence. 

" A light, thin shoe is always preferable to a heavy, 
thick one ; as the narrowness of the metal insures a 
good foothold, — in this respect imitating the wall, -^ 
while its thinness brings the sole, frog, and bars in 
closer approximation to the ground." 

The upper surface of a shoe should be filed until it is 
perfectly level and smooth. This, so far as I am able, I 
invariably do for myself. A boot, the surface of which 
is not smooth, gives to the foot wearing it very much 
such a sensation as a coarsely-hammered-out shoe does 
to the foot of a horse when attached to it. It should 
never be nailed on to the hoof until it is smooth as 
glass. Such a shoe makes, in very truth, a good fit. 
The ground-surface should be bevelled off along the 
inner edge, thus imitating the convex surface-shape 
of the sole. The metal at the toe should be rounded 
off until the new shoe resembles at the toe the one 
taken off. This is doing to the shoes of horses what 
the manufacturer does to our shoes when he rounds 
them up at the toe. This facilitates the action of the 



278 THE PEEFECT HOKSE. 

foot and limb, and, undoubtedly, accommodates Nature. 
I like to liave my new shoes look at tlie toe like tlie 
old ones. What Nature has rounded off man ought not 
to make angular. As to the nails, five are enough ; and 
these, if made of good material, can be of small size. 
Two should -be put on the inside, immediately back of 
the toe, and three on the outside. This method of nail- 
ing leaves the foot at liberty to enjoy its elasticity. 
The nails should be turned out as quickly as possible. 
The holes made by them should never be more than 
half an inch up into the hoof There are several 
reasons why a nail should not be driven high up. The 
first is, the higher it goes, the less thickness of wall is 
there to which to clinch it. The wall of the hoof, also, 
has a grain as truly as wood. Now, every one knows 
that a nail di'iven with the grain holds far less tena- 
ciously than one driven across it ; and it is this bring- 
ing-forth the point of the nail quickly which is com- 
patible with its being driven across the grain of the 
hoof A nail so driven holds on. Moreover, holes in 
horny substances never grow up: they always grow 
out or down. Now, the higher the hole that the nail 
has made is located in the wall of the hoof, the longer, 
of course, will the time be that is required to grow it 
down or out. This is no trifling consideration in the 
case where shoeing necessarily is frequent. Not only 
so, the multiplicity of holes greatly weakens the wall of 
the hoof, which, under our present faulty method of 
shoeing, has to bear up nearly the entire weight of the 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 279 

horse, and is, therefore, never too strong at the best. 
In this connection, Mr. Fleming says, — 

" The shoe ought to be attached by nails to those parts 
of the wall where the horn is strongest and toughest. 
In the fore-foot these parts are in front, and along the 
sides to the quarters: there the horn becomes narrow 
and thin ; and the nails find less support, and are nearer 
to the living textures. This is more particularly the case 
toward the heels, especially the inner one. In the hind- 
foot the wall is generally strong toward the quarters 
and heel. These facts at once give us an indication as 
to the best position for the nail-holes. In the fore-foot, 
nails can be driven through the wall, around the toe, as 
far as the inside quarter, and a little nearer the heel on 
the outside. In the hind-foot they may be driven 
around the toe, and even up to the heels, with im- 
punity." 

This should be borne in mind, that, where few nails are 
used, they must be put wider apart. Some smiths drive 
their nails in clusters ; and the result is, that a small sec- 
tion of the foot has to bear the entire strain. This the 
owner of every horse should guard against. My im- 
pression is, that the shoe should bear more heavily on 
the toe and heel, and less heavily on the quarters. I 
know the custom is to have the shoe set tight on the 
entire foot until you come to the heels ; and then it is 
" eased," or left so that the heel does not set closely 
upon it. Now, my idea is that the quarter is the 
weakest point in the wall of the hoof; and hence the 



280 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

shoe should be eased at that point, and not at the heel. 
This, I believe, would save many horses from quarter- 
crack. I suggest that the reader consider this, and then 
follow his own judgment. The nails, as I have said, 
should be quite small, and driven in more gently than is 
the custom. There is no reason why the smith should 
strike a blow at the little nail-head as strong as he 
would deliver at the head of a spike in an oak-beam. 
The hoof of the horse is not an oak-stick, and the 
delicately-pointed and slenderly-headed nail is not a 
wrought-iron spike ; and yet you will see the nailer 
whack away at them as if it was a matter of life and 
death to get them entirely set in at two blows of his 
hammer. Insist that the nailer shall drive his nails 
slowly and steadily, instead of using violence. In this 
case, if his nail is badly pointed and gets out of the 
proper line of direction, no great injury is done. It 
can be withdrawn, and a new one substituted, without 
harm having been done the foot. But the swift, blind, 
and violent way prevents all such care, and exposes 
the horse to temporary if not permanent injury. The 
heads should be no larger than the groove, or notch, 
which receives them. If these are not large enough 
to be sunk in, then that portion of the head which 
protrudes should be rasped or filed down level with 
the shoe. Gentleness should be exercised in clinching 
the nail. Never allow a smith to touch a rasp to the 
outer surface of the hoof Nature has covered it with 
a thin filament of enamel, the object of which is to pro- 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 281 

tect the inner membrane and fibre from exposure to 
water or atmosphere. This enamel is exactly what 
Nature puts on to the surface of your finger-nail, reader. 
Under no circumstances should it ever be touched. If 
it is removed, Nature will be wickedly deprived of her 
needed covering, and cruelly left exposed to the ele- 
ments. 

In respect to applying the shoe to the foot, two meth- 
ods are in vogue, — hot and cold fitting, as they are 
called. Which is the better, I am free to say, I have not 
decided. The weight of authority is nearly the same 
in either scale. The advocates of cold fitting declare 
that they can fit a shoe with rasp and file as evenly as 
the necessities of the case require, and that this can 
be done at no great cost of time or skill. They, more- 
over, charge that both reason and analogy are in oppo- 
sition to burning a horny surface, and declare that it 
honeycombs the wall of the foot, and prevents its 
natural and healthy growth. The disciples of hot fit- 
ting, on the other hand, declare that few men can level 
the foot, or so hammer and file the shoe that the fit shall 
be what is required ; and that only by burning can the 
connection between steel and horn be made sufficient- 
ly close and solid. For myself, I do not deny the 
advantages of hot fitting, especially when your horse 
must be shod by rude and unskilful workmen : still my 
impression is, that, Avhere skill and time are attainable, 
the cold-fitting method is by far the more preferable. 
In order that the reader may have the hot method of 



282 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

fitting the shoe clearly stated, I will make the following 
selection from the same author we have just quoted, 
who is an earnest advocate of it, and who has stated its 
advantages more clearly than any other writer : — 

'■'•Hot and Gold Fitting. — For very many years, the two 
systems of fitting horseshoes — in a cold and a heated 
condition — to the hoofs have been extensively and se- 
verely tested ; and the result has been, that cold fitting 
is, as a rule, only resorted to when circumstances prevent 
the adoption of the other method, or when the owner 
of a horse, imagining that the hot shoe injures the foot, 
incurs the risks attending a bad fit to guard against his 
imaginary evil. 

"It is needless, in a brief essay like the present, to 
enter into a relation of the observations and experi- 
ments which have established the undoubted and great 
superiority of what is termed 'hot' to 'cold' fitting. 
These will be found noticed at some length in a work 
recently published by me, entitled ' Horseshoes and 
Horseshoeing.' It may be sufficient to state that the 
evils supposed to result from fitting the shoes hot to the 
hoofs are purely chimerical. It is true, when the sole is 
excessively mutilated, should the farrier keep the heated 
shoe too long in contact with it, injury would doubtless 
follow ; but this accident is so exceedingly rare as to be 
scarcely ever known, even in forges where shoeing is 
performed in the most objectionable manner. The ill 
effects imagined to arise from hot shoeing can easily be 
traced to the operation of other causes, not the least of 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 283 

wticli is the fashion of paring the lower face of the 
foot. 

"The chief objections to cold shoeing are the want of 
solidity; the foot being made to fit the shoe, and the 
process being more difficult and expensive. 

"The defective solidity is patent to every one who has 
had any experience in the matter. It is impossible to 
level the ends of the horn-fibres so accurately that they 
will all rest evenly on the surface of the iron : so, those 
which are most prominent soon giving way to pressure, 
the bed of the shoe is altered ; and this, becoming loose, 
is either lost, or we have projecting clinches. And, 
even should the fibres be made perfectly level, wet soft- 
ens them, causing them to become pulpy and shorter, 
by which means the seat of the shoe is impaired, and the 
nails lose their firm hold of the wall. Ample experience 
on active service, as well as that gathered at home 
during peace, has demonstrated the instability resulting 
from cold fitting. 

"Owing to the increased trouble and loss of time in- 
curred by this method in attempts to make the shoe fit 
somewhat accurately, but few farriers can afford or are 
willing to resort to it. Hence, when it is practised, if 
the shoe is at all like the foot, it is put on ; and rasp and 
knife insure the hoof being made to fit it. This pro- 
ceeding is very injurious. 

"In hot fitting we have none of these objections. The 
shoe is very readily adapted to the foot: it is more 
equally applied, and rests solidly on the hoof, so that the 



284 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

nails are not broken or disiolacecl by the shoe becoming 
loose : in fine, there is a more intimate contact between 
the iron and the surface of the horn. The very fact of 
burning or fusing the ends of the fibres insures a solid, 
durable bed which cannot be obtained otherwise, as this 
destroys the spongy, absorbent properties of the horn, 
and renders it eminently calculated to withstand the 
influence of moisture. The effects produced on horn by 
the hot iron have been compared to those of fire on 
pieces of wood whose ends have been superficially car- 
bonized before being buried in the ground. Every one 
knows that this operation contributes to the preserva- 
tion of the wood by preserving it from the action of 
humidity. 

" Horn is a very slow conductor of heat ; and it requires 
a very prolonged application of the hot shoe to affect 
the hoof to any considerable depth. Three minutes' 
burning of the lower face of the sole has been found 
necessary to produce any indication of increase of tem- 
perature by the thermometer on its upper surface. It 
is never required that the shoe should be applied longer 
than a few seconds. 

"The hot shoe, in fusing the horn with which it comes 
in contact, imprints itself like a seal in melted sealing- 
wax ; and in this way the two surfaces of foot and shoe 
exactly coincide ; while, no matter how expert the work- 
man may be in using his tools to level the horn in a cold 
state, he can never do it so quickly or so completely as 
may be done by making an impression with the heated 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 285 

shoe, and consequently establishing between the lower 
margin of the hoof and the shoe an exact co-aptation. 

"It may be added, that, when the surface of the horn 
has been softened by the action of caloric, the nails enter 
it more readily ; the clips and inequalities are more easily 
embedded ; and, when it recovers its habitual consistency 
after cooling, the union between it and the metallic parts 
which are in contact becomes all the more intimate be- 
cause of the slight contraction that follows the expansion 
produced by the heat. Under these conditions, the horn 
contracts on the shanks of the nails, and retains them 
most securely. 

"All the highest veterinary authorities who have 
studied the subject are unanimous in recommending hot 
fitting in preference to cold. The latter is only justifiable 
when it is impossible to adopt the former. The red-hot 
shoe at once disposes of those inequalities which cannot 
be discovered, or removed by tools ; and it shows the 
workman at a glance the bearing of the shoe on the 
hoof, as well as the imprint of the nail-holes. Without 
being reheated, any alteration can be readily and at 
once effected in moulding the shoe to the shape of the 
toe. 

"The whole surface of the shoe intended to be in con- 
tact with the horn should be distinctly impressed on the 
contour of the hoof, so as to insure the closest and most 
accurate intimacy between the two ; and this carbonized 
surface should not be interfered with on any account, 
except by the rasp, which is only to be employed in re- 



286 THE PERFECT HOUSE. 

moving any sharpness or inequality on the extreme edge 
of the wall that may have been caused in fitting. 

"It is necessary to bear in mind that the shoe should 
be fitted at a r^d heat. Its application then need only 
be very brief; and it is far more effective in producing 
a solid level surface. It ought not to be applied at a 
hlach heat. Should the margin of the hoof not be suffi- 
ciently levelled by the rasp before the application of 
the hot shoe, a slight contact of the latter will show the 
inequalities ; and these may then be removed by rasp or 
knife. On no occasion ought the shoe to remain longer 
on the hoof than is necessary to produce a solid, per- 
fectly level surface." 

If, after reading this statement, the thoughtful horse- 
man is not convinced touching the advantages of the 
hot method, — and I will confess that I am not, — he will 
doubtless remain unconvinced ; for no stronger state- 
ment of its supposed advantages has ever been made. 

There is but one other point that I need touch upon 
in this chapter : it is concerning the weight of shoes. 
The two most desirable qualities in a shoe are lightness 
and durability. To combine these qualities, skill is 
requisite ; and that is one reason why so many heavy 
shoes are forged out. Another reason is, because, when 
so much of the horse's foot has been cut away as is the 
custom, it must be replaced in the form of metal. 
Hence shoes of great width are made, — so wide, indeed, 
that they resemble the earliest specimens found in the 
provinces of Constantine, — the Syrian shoe, which was 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 287 

little better than a solid plate of iron nailed to the 
hoof, with a small circular hole cut out in the middle. 
This is repeating history with a vengeance. These 
shoes are not only wide, but thick, which makes them 
even heavier than the Syrian shoe. This thickness is 
required, as some say, in order to protect the foot from 
jar. Mr. Miles favors this view, which is enough to 
make one doubt his sanity. Fleming is certainly right 
when he says that the flexible horn is the best modi- 
fier of concussion; and that as the thickness of metal 
increases, so does the jar. But the greatest objection 
to a heavy shoe is to be found in the fact, that it puts 
an unnatural and dangerous strain upon the muscles 
and tendons of the limb bearing it. A French pro- 
fessor (Bouley) made several years ago a curious es- 
timate touching the muscular exhaustion and fatigue 
resulting from the use of heavy shoes. I make the 
following quotation : — 

" If, at the termination of a day's work, we calculate 
the weight represented by the mass of heavy shoes that 
a horse is condemned to carry at each step, we arrive 
at a formidable array of figures, and in this way are able 
to estimate the amount of force uselessly expended by 
the animal in raising the shoes that surcharge his feet. 
The calculation I have made possesses an eloquence 
that dispenses with very long commentaries. Suppose 
that the weight of a shoe is 1,000 grams : it is not 
excessive to admit that a horse trots at the rate of one 
step every second, or sixty steps a minute. In a 



288 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

minute, then, the limb of a horse whose foot carries one 
kilogram makes an effort necessary to raise, kilogram 
after kilogram, a weight of 60 kilograms. For the 
four limbs, this weight in a minute is represented by 
60x4r=240 kilograms; for the four feet during an 
hour the weight is 14,000 kilograms; and for four 
hours, the mean duration of a day's work in these om- 
nibuses, the total amount of weight raised has reached 
the respectable figure of 57,000 kilograms. But the 
movement communicated to these 57,000 kilograms 
represents an expenditure of power employed by the 
motor without any useful result ; and, as the motor is a 
living one, this expense of strength represents an ex- 
haustion, or, if you like it better, a degree of fatigue, 
proportioned to the effort necessary for its manifestation. 
This calculation is most simple, and readily understood. 
It is to be noted, nevertheless, that I have omitted a 
considerable fact; which is, that the weights I have 
tabulated are situated at the extremities of the limbs, 
and that the arms of the levers on which the muscles 
act to raise them, being infinitely shorter than those of 
the physiological resistance to which these weights are 
added, the intensity of their action ought, therefore, to 
be singularly increased. But to measure this intensity 
of action would require a mathematical aptitude which 
I do not possess. I will not, therefore, dwell on this 
point, notwithstanding its importance ; and am content 
to signalize it. Otherwise, the figures I present speak 
for themselves, and tell us that the diminution in the 



THE horse's foot, AND HOW TO SHOE IT. 289 

weiglit of horse-shoes is not an accessory consideration 
so far as the useful apphcation of the horse's strength 
goes." 

In the hght of this ingenious calcuLation, what an 
enormous outlay of muscular strength it must take in 
the aggregate, on the part of the American trotting- 
horse, to lift, with the rapidity required, the monstrous 
shoes which are ruthlessly nailed to his hoof! 

In respect to the preservation of the horse's hoof, 
I would say that it is almost impossible to keep the 
foot of the horse thoroughly sound while we keep 
him standing continuously on wooden floors. ' No one 
could persuade me to allow a valuable colt to be 
stabled in a stall the floor of which is wood. It may 
not be amiss to state, at this point, the fashion, or style, 
of stall-floors in my stables. 

The dirt is first excavated to the depth of two feet. 
Stones are then put in haphazard until half the pit is 
filled. Six inches in depth of cobble-stones are then 
added; then four inches of earth thrown in. Over 
all this is spread beach-sand or bank-gravel to the 
depth of three or four inches. This is my model stall- 
floor. Its advantages are many. It is cheap. It 
requires no skilled labor to make it. Once made, it is 
always made. There are no timbers to decay, nor 
planks to rot out. It is never damp. The liquids 
leach easily through it. Standing in such a stall, your 
horses will never have dried, contracted feet; but 
they will be strictly in the state of nature. In case 

19 



290 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

that you have a horse with contracted and hardened 
hoofs, scaly and brittle, that you must moisten and soak 
out, do not waste your money on " patent stuffing " 
and costly "dressing" for the feet, but take your 
basket and go down into the swamp, and gather a 
bushel or two of swamp-moss. Now take boards, and 
make a box some three feet long by two feet wide, 
and six inches in depth. Fill this box with moss well 
moistened with water, and so tie your horse that he will 
stand with his fore-feet amid the moss. Do not allow 
him to stand more than two or three hours at a time 
thus, lest the chemical action of the moss should be too 
rapid and strong. Watch its influence on his feet, and 
do as your judgment decides. In this way the hardest 
and flintiest foot can be rendered soft and yielding 
after only a few days of treatment. It is a valuable 
recipe for such ills. 

The publishers' announcement warns me that my 
manuscript has reached the desired bulk, and that this 
section of the work must be drawn to a close. My 
object in writing it has been to quicken thought, and 
start discussion. Viewed only in this light is it satis- 
factory even to myself The conclusion which my 
mind has reached, after all my reading and investiga- 
tion touching the horse's foot, may be summed up in a 
few brief maxims. Never touch the bars, frog, or sole of 
the horse's foot with a knife, or rasp. Shoe with light, 
thin shoes, that allow the sole, bars, and frog to be 
brought in contact with the ground, and thus bear their 



THE horse's foot, AJSiD HOW TO SHOE IT. 291 

due proportion of the horse's weight. Use small nails, 
and not over five of them. Never allow the points to 
be driven high up in the wall of the hoof, nor a rasp 
to be touched to the outer surface. Eor ordinary ser- 
vice in the country during the summer months, use 
only tips, which protect the toe, but leave the entire 
ground-surface of the foot unprotected. In brief, feel 
that He who made the horse's foot is wiser than you 
are; and meddle with his perfect work as little as 
possible. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

THE MORGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 

I DO not purpose to write the history of the Morgan 
horses, although to do it would be like writing the 
history of kings. Lack of space, and not lack of de- 
sire, denies me the pleasure of such a task. Still it is a 
work that should be done ; and, if no abler pen should 
be found to do it, at some future day, if life and leisure 
be granted me, mine may attempt it. I regard it as 
nothing less than shame to the horsemen of New 
England, that, with the exception of Mr. Linsley's book, 
no effort has been made to collect and arrange in popu- 
lar form the material for the history of the most 
remarkable family of horses that New England or Amer- 
ica has ever had. Indeed, the Morgan family may be 
said to be the only family that has existed in this coun- 
try as such. 

Of Justin Morgan alone can it be said, that he found- 
ed a family. Other horses there have been of note, 
and whose eminence was well deserved ; but they 
passed away, and left no sons so like themselves as to be 

292 



MORGAN HOUSE : HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 293 

distinctively theirs. Messenger was a remarkable horse ; 
and America owes him more than words can express : 
but Messenger lacked one thing, — the power to take of 
other bloods, and dominate them, stamping them with 
his imperial likeness. Diomed was a wonderful animal, 
after my Avay of thinking, ranking on a level with Mes- 
senger ; in no respect inferior. But Diomed lacked that 
royal something, which, when existing in a horse, makes 
all other families tributary to himself, — that power to 
absorb, and not be absorbed ; to allow turbid currents 
to be mingled with the stream of his life, and yet flow 
on in the same pure majesty. This, neither Diomed. 
nor Messenger nor Bashaw, nor any other imported 
horse from which we trace our trotting-action, ever 
had. Their colts were of all sizes and colors and tem- 
peraments and structural formation. One would be 
coarse-limbed, big-headed, and rat-tailed, like Abdallah ; 
another would have the countenance of a Barb, and 
limbs like an Arab's. They were all royal ; but none 
were kingly. Not one builded a throne and founded a 
nation whose population were abundant, and all his chil- 
dren. But Justin Morgan did this thing. He stands 
the progenitor of a mighty race, spread over all the land 
from Maine to California ; and, wherever you find a Mor- 
gan horse, — whether in city or country. East or West, 
North or South, — you know that he is a Morgan horse. 
One glance is enough: color, shape, style, limbs, feet, 
head, all suggest the little horse from which he lineally 
descended, — Justin Morgan. Men say he had no 



294 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

"blood." Out upon the assertion! His blood must 
have been of the purest, or it never could have ruled in 
mastery over all other bloods, as it did, and still con- 
tinues to do. 

Ask Mr. Wallace, one of the most honest and pains- 
taking students of the horse any nation has ever been 
honored with, — ask him what is the superlative test of 
blood ; and he will tell you, the power to marh descend- 
ants with its own characteristics. This is the crucial 
test, beside which mere verbal pedigrees are simply bits 
of paper. Apply this test to Justin Morgan (there are 
many horses who walk with plumed heads to-day that 
cannot stand this. test), and see how royally he bears it! 
Stand him in the full blaze of such a scrutiny, and ob- 
serve that the fervor which withers other garlands only 
causes his wreath to take a greener hue. How other 
bloods bowed in submission to his ! Crossed with twenty 
families, he dominated over them all. No matter what 
the dam might be, the colt was sure to look like the 
sire. There were the same feet and legs, and depth of 
chest, and haunches swollen with muscles, the same 
proud curve to the neck, prominent eye, quick ear, full 
front, and muzzle lean as a sweated racer's. Men say he 
had no pedigree. He had. His pedigree was written 
in the form and spirit of his children. It was verified 
beyond the verification of written affidavits. Not that 
these were lacking. No candid and intelligent student 
of the question can have the shadow of a doubt that his 
sire was Beautiful Bay, or that his dam was of the 



MOKGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 295 

Wildair breed. But, for one, I care nothing for this 
verbal pedigree in the case of Justin Morgan : it is a 
waste of -words to discuss it. The proofs of his pedigree 
were not hack of him, but in him ; and they were read 
in living characters in his three great sons, — Sherman, 
Woodbury, and Bulrush, — and in all the successive gen- 
erations of his descendants, even down to the present 
time. What names adorn the scroll of his fame ! — 
Black Hawk, Gifford, Ethan Allen, Morrill, Taggart's 
Abdallah, Gen, Knox, Fearnaught, Lambert: these are 
enough, if there were no more, to make his name 
immortal. The sire of such sons cannot be denied his 
rank and place amid the great stock-horses of the 
world. The ignorance of some, and the malice of 
others, cannot belittle his greatness. This stands 
secure, not only above the peril, but even above the 
reach, of attack. 

It is of a family of horses with such an ancestor, and 
sharing his characteristics, that I now write, not in 
way of eulogy, but rather of suggestion to breeders. 
I claim for the Morgan horse a few things which 
make him the most desirable horse on which to base 
experiments in crossing that any man ever had. The 
first of. these peculiarities is this, — the 'power of trans- 
mitting his excellences to his offspring. 

This power makes the horse that has it absolutely 
invaluable for breeding-purposes, because it takes 
uncertainty from the process. Give the breeder a 
horse that marks his get in form, color, and tempera- 



296 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

ment like himself, and lie knows beforehand what he is 
to have : anxiety is dismissed. He knows how the colt 
will look before he is foaled. This is the first, and per- 
haps the most characteristic, peculiarity of the Morgan 
horses. Other things being equal, no stallion is so good 
for stock-purposes as one strongly infused with Morgan 
blood ; and the reason is simply because the Morgan 
blood is a strong, masterful blood, yielding to none, 
but conquering all, and transmitting itself to those 
born of it. 

The second excellence for which the Morgan horse is 
noted is heaidy. 

Twenty years ago, speed was every thing. If a horse 
could go^ that was enough. We have lived beyond that 
period. Beauty is demanded now in the markets, and 
paid for handsomely ; and the questions with every 
breeder, therefore, necessarily are, " What is the cross 
by which I can add beauty to speed? Where can 
I get the fine, rich coat, the spirited face, the quick 
ear, the arched tail, the small black hoofs, the flat, 
wiry legs, that shall cause men to contend for the pos- 
session of my colts ? " That is what Mr. Taggart, Col. 
Russell, Mr. Dorsey, Mr. Nevins, and Col. Sprague, 
wished to know ; and that is why they all went to 
the Morgan family for stallions to head their respective 
stables. I ask any man to select in all the country six 
other stallions of such striking beauty as Taggart's 
Abdallah, Fearnaught, Young Fearnaught, Ethan Allen, 
Rolla Gold Dust, and Lambert, — all direct descend- 



MORGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 297 

ants from Justin Morgan, and strongly marked with 
the Morgan characteristics. For beauty, give me, in 
breeding, a Morgan horse for a sire, and a well-bred 
mare for a dam. With such a cross I know what I 
shall get, so far as beauty goes, at any rate ; and beauty 
is growing to be worth more and more in greenbacks 
every year. 

The third characteristic excellence of the Morgan 
horses is their docilitij. 

" You can teach a Morgan colt any thing " is a prov- 
erb among the people ; and the proverbs of a people 
always blossom out of facts. And it is a fact, that the 
Morgans are all teachable. They are quick to catch 
your meaning : and, once taught, they are always taught; 
for they never forget any thing once learned. Their 
memory is like a dog's, — faultless. They are amiable 
as a race, and of very affectionate dispositions. They 
love to be petted and caressed. They will do as 
much for a word as for a blow. They are never tricky. 
That they are high-strung and frisky, we admit ; but 
their playfulness is always good-natured, never vicious. 
Even in their wildest antics they are never destruc- 
tive, but are careful, and yield readily to rebuke. If 
speedy, they can be trained without difficulty, if you 
will let the whip alone ; and will do all that in them lies 
at the word of the driver. The Morgan horse is beauti- 
ful ; he is also docile ; and these characteristics he trans- 
mits^ — three steps, at least, that lead to the equine 
throne. 



298 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

The fourth characteristic peculiar to the Morgan 
horse is endurance. 

A hardier race of horses was never bred. In power 
to do hard work, and keep on doing it, month in and 
month out, the Morgans stand at the head of the 
column. In lung-power they were simply perfect ; 
in feet and limbs, faultless ; in muscular formation, 
marvellous ; and in connection with this was a nervous 
or vitcd force that seemed to be equal to every effort, 
and appalled at no emergency. Years did not appear 
to lessen their power, or dampen their ardor. At 
twenty they were as young as members of other 
families are at ten ; and at thirty their eyes had not 
lost their fire, or their action its boldness. Now, this 
iron-lil:e quality is what breeders must put into their 
colts. We can get speed easily enough ; but we must 
have speed, and the power to keep it up mile after mile, 
and hour after hour. Endurance is what we must have 
in our horses ; and this is precisely what the Morgan 
blood gives. It is pre-eminently the heirloom of the 
family, and is handed down from sire to son in undi- 
minished integrity. 

The last characteristic of the Morgan family that I 
shall mention is speed. 

It is said by some that the Morgan family had no 
speed. If this were true, still there would be such 
great excellences of form, temperament, color, and 
style, that it would remain a most valuable family with 
which to cross in breeding. But it is not true ; for the 



MOBGAIT HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 299 

I 

fact is, all things being candidly considered, I believe 
every one will admit that they have produced more 
trotters than any other family in the world. I ask the 
render to bear in mind, that in Justin ]!iIorgan's day, 
and also during the lifetime of his immediate descend- 
ants, trotting, as we understand it, was not in vogue. 
The State of Vermont is, moreover, ill adapted, in its 
topography and the industries of its inhabitants, to 
develop fast trotting-horses. The roads are hilly, and, 
up to a very recent period, the tracks few. Lumbering, 
and clearing up farm-lands and staging, in a mountain- 
ous country, are not just the work one would select 
to develop trotters. How much, think you, do the 
Hambletonian and Clay families owe to training ? All 
that money and skill could do for them has been done. 
Every colt with any promise, sired by Rysdyk's horse, 
has been cultured and developed to the limit of the 
possible. But the Morgan horses have never been 
petted. They were not thus favored. Circumstances 
were all against the family ; and no careful student will 
forget this fact when studying the question. Neverthe- 
less, in spite of neglect and adverse circumstances, the 
Morgan horse need ask no odds of any. To his beauty, 
docility, endurance, his friends can add the word speedy 
and bide, with cheerfulness, investigation and compari- 
son. The farther I push my inquiries in this direction, 
the more am I astonished at the evidence. The num- 
ber of fast horses lineally descended in the male line 
from Justin Morgan surprise me. I submit the follow- 
ing list in proof: — 



300 



THE PERFECT HOESE. 



Ethan Allen trotted 


a mile in 




2.15 


Lady Sutton 


li 




11 




2.33 


Beppo 


a 




11 




2.311 


Pizarro 


(I 




11 




2.35 


Blue Morgan 


u 




li 




. 2.331 


Black Ealph 


li 




11 




2.31 


Know-Notliing 


a 




a 




2.271 


Chicago Jack 


a 




11 




. 2.271 


Belle of Saratoga 


a 




li 




2.291 


Warwick 


a 




li 




. 2.291 


Grit 


(( 




11 




2.29 


Capt. Liglitfoot 


li 




11 




2.28 


Draco 


11 




li 




2.271 


Fannie Allen 


a 




li 




2.251 


Fannie Jenks trotted ten 


miles in 


29.59 


(C a 


11 


a hundred miles in £ 


h. 24.30 


Gilbretli Knox trotted a 


mile in 


2.261 


Hotspur 


li 




a 


2.231 


Joe Hooper, jun. 


li 
> 




li 




2.281 


Lady Eoss 


li 




a 




2.291 


Locust 


li 




li 




2.241 


Mountain IMaid 


li 




11 




2.291 


Nonesuch 


li 




li 




2.251 


Eolla Gold Dust 


a 




li 




2.21 


Susie 


11 




11 




2.261 


Spartan 


li 




11 




2.28 


Uncle Abe 


a 




11 




2.27 


Washington Irving 


Totted a mile in . 


2.30 


Billy Barr 




(( 




2.231 


Carroll 




(( 




2.30 


Draco Prince 




(( 




2.24 


Fearnaught 




(( 




2.231 


Pannie Lee 




li 




2.28 


Gray Mack 




11 




. 


2.251 



MORGAN HOESE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 301 



Gray Jack trotted a mil 


B in 






2.281 


Honest Allen " 


IC 






2.29 


Lady Sherman " 


(( 






2.29 


Lancet " 


u 






2.25 


Mac « 


a 






2.25 


Pocaliontas " 


(C 






2.261 


Panic " 


u 






2.25 


Eoyal John " 


a 






2.26i 


Strideaway " 


<{ 






2.28i 


Tennessee " 


u 






2.27 


Young Morrill " 


u 






2.36 


Gen. Lyon " 


u 






2.36 


Defiance " 


(C 






2.35 


Camors '^ 


({ 






2.26 


Commee " 


l( 






2.271 


Parkis'Ahdallah « 


(C 






2.271 


Young Fearnaught " 


u 






2.25 


Ned Wallace (a four-year old), trotted a mile in 2.33 


Allen Prince 




ii 


(I 


" 2.261 



Here, tlien, are forty-nine lineal descendants of the 
old Justin Morgan, that have trotted as follows : — 



Two a mile in 
Porty-nine better than 
Porty better than 
And fourteen better than 



2.36 
2.36 
2.30 
2.26 



It is possible, that, here and there in the list, a slight 
error may be found; but I believe the record to be 
entirely trustworthy and reliable. 

Now, I wish, in all candor, to inquire if the record 
is not a good one. What other horse has New Eng- 
land ever had with such a list of descendants? Where 



302 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

is the "Bush Messenger" family to which New Eng- 
land is so much "indebted"? Will someone please 
mention the " Hambletonian " trotters? If I write ear- 
nestly and strongly, I do it, be it remembered, in 
defence of a family of horses suffering from a most 
unjust impeachment, and in vindication of a great 
truth, that it is for the interest of every New-England 
breeder to know; viz., that the family of horses which 
has been distinguished by, and embodied^ the four great 
essentials of the perfect horse^ — beauty^ docility^ endur- 
ance^ and speedy — is the Morgan. 

If any one should say, "Why! Fearnaught is not a 
Morgan," I respond, "He is just as much a Morgan as 
Dexter is a Hambletonian, or George M. Patchen, jun., 
is a Clay horse ; " that is, he runs straight back in the 
male line to Justin Morgan. 

I do not think that many people realize how much 
we are actually indebted to this family of horses for our 
trotting-stock. Many men who own valuable stock- 
horses in New England, lineally descended from old 
Justin Morgan, seem unaware of the fact. Indeed, I 
have sometimes thought that I detected, on the part of 
some, a desire to conceal the very connection and rela- 
tionship from which, beyond doubt, their horses derived 
the larger part of their excellence. Some foolish 
writer has asserted that certain descendants of this 
horse were not potentially affected by their relationship 
with him ; indeed, were not Morgan horses at all. 
The method by which he proves this, as a specimen 



MORGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 303 

of ingenuity in silliness, cannot be beaten. His reason- 
ing runs thus: Sherman Morgan drew one-half of his 
blood from Justin Morgan, his sire ; his son Black 
Hawk, one-eighth ; his son Ethan Allen, one-sixteenth ; 
his son Daniel Lambert, one-thirty-second ; his sons, 
one-sixty-fourth : therefore, as a son of Daniel Lambert 
has only one-sixty-fourth of old Justin Morgan's blood 
in his veins, he is no descendant of his ; indeed, no 
Morgan horse at all. This is, indeed, brilliant reason- 
ing ! Suppose we illustrate it with a sample of the 
human family. The first Murray — that is, the head of 
my family — that came to America was named John 
Murray. His son Jonathan drew only one-half of his 
blood from his father; his son John, one-eighth; his son 
Calvin, one-sixteenth ; his son Dickinson, one-thirty- 
second ; his son William, one-sixty-fourth : therefore I, 
because I do not have but one-sixty-fourth of the 
original John Murray's blood in my veins, am no Mur- 
ray at all. That is going back on one's relations with a 
vengeance ! The fact is, — and all attempts to elude 
and evade it are silly at the start, and, if repeated, de- 
testable, — the fact is, the male side of the family gives 
the name to the family, with horses as with men. As a 
matter of justice, I might as consistently call myself 
Munger, because my mother's name was that, as that 
Mr. Taggart's famous horse should be called Abdallah, 
ignoring the fact, that, in the male line, he runs straight 
back through Farmer's Beauty, Gififord, Woodbury, to 
old Justin Morgan. I call him a full Morgan horse. So 



304 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

I do Fearnauglit, who likewise runs straight as a string 
through Young Morrill, Old Morrill, Bulrush Morgan, 
to old Justin Morgan himself. Likewise Gen. Knox, one 
of the most justly celebrated stock-horses Maine, New 
England, or the country, ever had, — the sire of Gil- 
breth Knox (record 2.26), Camors (record 2. 2 If), Lady 
Maud (record 2.221), and Plato (record 2.27i),— is a 
true Morgan : for his sire was Sherman Black Hawk ; 
grandsire, Black Hawk ; great-grandsire, Sherman ; great- 
great-grandsire, Justin Morgan. What right have men 
to rob a horse of his laurels, or deny him that fame, 
which, by the character of his get, he can justly clairu ? 
Who would treat Old Messenger or Diomed or Bashaw 
in this manner? Especially, how can we deny the Mor- 
gan relationship, when the horse in question not only is 
a lineal descendant of Justin Morgan, but even bears 
the marks and characteristics of the family most unmis- 
takably ? Who can look at Taggart's Abdallah, or 
Ethan Allen, or EoUa Gold Dust, and not feel that the 
Morgan blood has proved the dominant blood in their 
case, and marked them with an unmistakable impress ? 
And I ask certain of my readers to observe that this 
Morgan connection never gives heavy jowls, and large 
ears, and big legs, and long backs, to a horse, — as con- 
nection with certain families I might mention is pretty 
apt to do, — but puts just what you wish into a horse, 
and no more. 

It is said that Justin Morgan was a low-bred horse. 
But such a statement is a gross slander. There can be 



MOKGAK HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 305 

no doubt, in any candid man's mind who investigates the 
matter, that Justin Morgan was sired by True Briton or 
Beautiful Bay,, owned by Sealy Norton of East Hart- 
ford, Conn., and then kept by John Morgan at West 
Springfiekl, Mass., where he then hved. That his dam 
was a mare of good breeding is also beyond question. 
Whether the sire of Beautiful Bay was the imported 
horse Traveller or not, — and this point I do not 
attempt to decide, — it cannot be denied that Beautiful 
Bay was a horse noted for his fine-blooded qualities. 

But, outside of and above all considerations of ap- 
proved pedigree, the horse, as I have said, demonstrated 
his fine breeding in his get. All authorities agree that 
none but high-bred horses can mark their colts. The 
power to transmit his own likeness to his descendants is 
peculiarly the characteristic of the thorough-bred horse ; 
and none can deny that Justin Morgan had this power 
in a marvellous degree ; and, higher proof yet, he gave 
this jpoioer to Ms sons. This, to my mind, constitutes a 
demonstration, and makes written pedigree of little 
account. Fortunately, also, we know what manner of 
horse he was ; and, as a matter of interest to the general 
reader, I will insert at this place the following very 
accurate description and history of the Justin Morgan, 
as found in Mr. Linsley's work on " The Morgan 
Horse : " — 

"The original, or Justin Morgan, was about four- 
teen hands high, and weighed about nine hundred and 
fifty pounds. His color was dark bay, with black legs, 

20 



306 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

mane, and tail. He had no white hairs on him. His 
mane and tail were coarse and heavy, but not so mas- 
sive as has been sometimes described. The hair of both 
was straight, and not inclined to curl. His head was 
good, not extremely small, but lean and bony ; the face 
straight ; forehead broad ; ears small and very fine, but 
set rather wide apart. His eyes were medium size, 
very dark and prominent, with a spirited but pleasant 
expression, and showed no white round the edge of 
the lid. His nostrils were very large, the muzzle small, 
and the lips close and firm. His back and legs were, 
perhaps, his most noticeable points. The former was 
very shoft; the shoulder-blades and hip-bones being 
very long and oblique, and the loins exceedingly 
broad and muscular. His body was rather long, 
round, and deep, close ribbed up ; chest deep and wide, 
with the breast-bone projecting a good deal in front. 
His legs were short, close-jointed, thin, but very wide, 
hard, and free from meat, with muscles that were 
remarkably large for a horse of his size ; and this super- 
abundance of muscle exhibited itself at every step. 
His hair was short, and, at almost all seasons, soft and 
glossy. He had a little long hair about the fetlocks, 
and for two or three inches above the fetlock, on the 
back-side of the legs: the rest of the limbs were 
entirely free from it. His feet were small, but well 
shaped ; and he was in every respect perfectly sound, 
and free from any sort of blemish. He was a very fast 
walker. In trotting, his gait was low and smooth, and 



MORGAN HORSE : HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 307 

his step short and nervous. He was not what in these 
days would be called fast : and we think it doubtful 
whether he could trot a mile, much, if any, within four 
minutes ; though it is claimed by many that he could 
trot it in three. 

" Although he raised his feet but little, he never 
stumbled. His proud, bold, and fearless style of move- 
ment, and his vigorous, untiring action, have, perhaps, 
never been surpassed. When a rider was on him, he 
was obedient to the slightest motion of the rein ; would 
walk backwards rapidly under a gentle pressure of the 
bit; and moved sideways almost as willingly as he 
moved forward ; in short, was perfectly trained to all 
the paces and evolutions of a parade-horse. When 
ridden at military reviews (as was fi'equently the case), 
his bold, imposing style, and spirited, nervous action, 
attracted universal attention and admiration. He was 
perfectly gentle and kind to handle, and loved to be 
groomed and caressed : but he disliked to have children 
about him ; and had an inveterate hatred for dogs, — if 
loose, always chasing them out of sight the instant he 
saw them. When taken out with halter or bridle, he 
was in constant motion, and very playful. 

" He was a fleet runner at short distances. Running 
horses short distances for small stakes was very com- 
mon in Vermont fifty years ago. Eighty rods was 
very generally the length of the course, which usually 
commenced at a tavern or grocery, and extended the 
distance agreed upon, up or down the public road. lu 



308 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

these races the horses were started from a 'scratch,' — 
that is, a mark was drawn across the road in the dirt; 
and the horses, ranged in a row upon it, went off at 
' the drop of a hat ' or some other signal. It will be 
observed that the form of the Justin Morgan waS not 
such as in our days is thought best calculated to 
give the greatest speed for a short distance. Those 
who believe in long-legged racers will think his legs, 
body, and stride were all too short ; and to them it may, 
perhaps, seem surprising that he should be successful, 
as he invariably was, in such contests. But we think 
his great muscular development and nervous energy, 
combined with his small size, gave him a decided 
advantage in the first start over taller and heavier 
horses; just as any ordinary horse can distance the 
finest locomotive in a ten-rod race. At all events, the 
history of racing in this country and in England proves 
conclusively that small horses inay have great speed. 
In such a race, a horse of great spirit and nervous 
energy derives a decided advantage from these quali- 
ties, especially after being a little accustomed to such 
struggles. When brought up to the line, his eyes 
flash, and his ears quiver with intense excitement ; he 
grinds his bit with his teeth ; his hind-legs are drawn 
under him; every muscle of his frame trembles, and 
swells almost to bursting ; and, at the given signal, he 
goes off like the springing of a steel trap. His unvary- 
ing success in these short races may perhaps be partly 
accounted for in this way ; though he was undoubtedly 



MORGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 309 

possessed of more than ordinary speed, and was a 
sharp runner. 

" Among the many races of this description that he 
ran were two in 1796, at Brookfield, Yt., — one with a 
horse called Sweepstakes from Long Island ; and the 
other with a horse called Silver Tail from St. Lawrence 
County, N.Y. : both of these he beat with ease. Mr. 
Morgan (who then owned him) offered to give the 
owner of Silver Tail two more chances to win the 
stake, which was fifty dollars, by walking or trotting 
the horses for it ; which was declined. There are many 
accounts of other races which he ran and won ; but, 
these accounts not fully agreeing as to the details, we 
have not mentioned them. 

" In harness the Justin Morgan was quiet, but full of 
spirit ; an eager and nimble traveller, but patient in bad 
spots ; and, although for a long time steadily engaged 
in the heavy work of a new farm, his owner at that 
time informs us that he never knew him refuse to draw 
as often as he was required to : but he pithily adds, ' I 
didn't very often have to ask him but once ; for what- 
ever he was hitched to generally had to come the first 
time trying.' This uniform kindness at a pull was one 
of the striking characteristics of the horse; and the 
same trait may be observed in the greater part of his 
descendants. ' Pulling matches ' and ' pulling bees ' 
were as common in those days as short races ; and the 
' little horse,' as he was often called, became quite cele- 
brated for his unvarying willingness to do his best, and 
for his great power at what is called a ' dead lift.' 



310 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

"The following letter from Solomon Steele, Esq., of 
Derby, Yt., — a gentleman wlio has devoted a great deal 
of time and money to the improvement of horses in his 
vicinity, and who, notwithstanding the apathy of some 
and the opposition of others, now enjoys the pleasure 
of seeing his precepts adopted and his example fol- 
lowed by his neighbors, to their great advantage, and 
the equal improvement of their stock, — will be read 
with interest : — 

"Derby Line, Vt., March 12, 1856. 
"D. C. LiNSLEY, Esq. 

" Dear Sir, — I am in receipt of yours of the 1st inst., 
renewing your request that I should favor you with such 
information as I may possess in relation to the early his- 
tory of the founder of that breed of horses which have 
at length become so distinguished as to be 'called the 
*best in the world,' and known as Morgans. I have 
not the vanity to presume that I can disclose any mate- 
rial facts relative to this subject ; but, at your request, 
T will mention some incidents connected with the early 
history of this horse, which, if not of great importance, 
may not be void of interest. It has been my privilege, 
in early life, to often see the original Morgan horse, 
called by this name from the fact that Justin Morgan 
brought him to Randolph, Vt., from Massachusetts, in 
the autumn of 1795. Mr. Morgan intended to apply 
him to the payment of a note held against him ; but not 
being able to obtain what he considered a reasonable 
price for him, and having no keeping for him, he let 



MORGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 311 

him to a man by the name of Robert Evans, for one 
year, for the sum of fifteen dollars. Immediately after 
this, Evans undertook the job of clearmg fifteen acres 
of heavy timbered land for a Mr. Fisk; and, before the 
1st of June following, had completed the job, with no 
other team but this colt, though not regarded as a 
'salable horse.' 

" While Evans was engaged in piling this timber, the 
remarkable powers of this horse, it would seem, were 
in a measure developed, as he was then found able to 
out-draw, out- walk, out-trot, or out-run, every horse that 
was matched against him. An instance was related to 
me by Mr. Nathan Nye, who was an eye-witness, and 
whose testimony was never questioned. I noted it at 
the time, and will relate it in his own words : — 

" ' At the time Evans had this horse, a small tavern, a 
grist-mill and saw-mill, were in operation on 'the branch 
of White River, in Randolph ; and at this place the 
strength of men and horses in that settlement was 
generally tested. On one occasion I went to these 
mills, where I spent most of a day; and, during the 
time, many trials were had, for a small wager, to draw 
a certain pine-log, which lay some ten rods from the 
saw-mill. 

" ' Some horses were hitched to it that would weigh 
twelve hundred pounds; but not one of them could 
move it its length. About dusk, Evans came down 
from his logging-field, which was near by; and I told 
him the particulars of the di'awing-match. Evans re- 



312 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

quested me to show him the log ; which I did. He then 
ran back to the tavern, and challenged the company to 
bet a gallon of rum that he could not draw the log 
fairly on to the logway, at three pulls, with his colt. 
The challenge was promptly accepted; and, each hav- 
ing " taken a glass," the whole company went down to 
the spot. 

'"Arrived on the ground, Evans says, "I am ashamed 
to hitch my horse to a little log like that ; but, if three 
of you will get on and ride, if I don't draw it I will 
forfeit the rum." Accordingly, three of those least able 
to stand were placed upon the log. I was present with 
a lantern, and cautioned those on the log to look out 
for their legs, as I had seen the horse draw before, and 
knew something had got to come. At the word of 
command the horse started log and men, and went 
more than half of the distance before stopping. At the 
next pull he landed his load at the spot agreed upon, 
to the astonishment of all present. 

" 'Not many days after this, the beaten party proposed 
to Evans to run a certain horse against his, eighty rods, 
for another gallon. Evans accepted; went from his 
work, and matched his horse against four different 
horses the same evening, and beat them all with ease.' 

" Thus, early in the history of the Morgan horse, it 
was an admitted fact, that, however small, he could not 
be beaten where strength, speed, and endurance were 
the test. When we see this same animal driven in har- 
ness, or ridden by the aged and infirm with perfect 



MORGAN HOKSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 313 

safety and confidence, and next see Mm at a military re- 
vie ay, mounted by the commander-in-cliief, and displaying 
all the fire and pride imaginable, and, after the lapse of 
nearly fifty years, witnessing the same remarkable traits 
in man}' of his descendants, we are constrained to admit 
, that hlood is, indeed, of no small importance in the busi- 
ness of horse-breeding. It should be well understood, 
that, throughout the long life of the Justin Morgan, as 
well as that of his immediate offspring, want of size 
was the universal objection. No man of ordinary judg- 
ment could fail to discover his peculiar points of excel- 
lence ; his oblique shoulders, high crest, fine ear, 
prominent and sagacious eye, perfect head, large and 
expanded nostrils, strong loins, long hip, deep and 
well-spread chest, high withers, short pasterns, strong 
and sinewy limbs, with all the important muscles, far sur- 
passing in size those of any other horse of his weight 
ever seen in America. The fact that this horse has con- 
tributed more than any other animal ever did to the 
wealth of the United States, no honest man will deny ; 
but strange to say, in the face of all this, the cry is still 
heard, '■Too small, too small!'' This reminds us of the 
man who sold his hen because she was too small, although 
she daily laid eggs of gold. We rejoice, however, that 
we live in a day when intelligent men cannot so easily 
be made the dupes of interested parties. The farming 
community are thinking and acting with more care and 
attention than formerly. They are disposed to profit by 
past experience. They are more close observers of 



314 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

cause and effect ; and it is our firm conviction that the 
man who is doing most to foster and encourage this 
principle is the world's greatest benefactor. 

"Through life the Justin Morgan was steadily em- 
ployed in the heavy work incident to the cultivation of 
a new and mountainous country, and was often engaged 
in similar matches to those just mentioned. Even at the 
age of fifteen, we find him entered at a drawing-match 
that took place at Gen. Butler's tavern in St. Johnsbury. 
Some of his opponents are described by persons present 
as large, heavy horses ; yet they were all beaten by the 
Justin. We mention these facts to show the great 
muscular development of the horse, and his kind and 
tractable temper, rather than as an evidence of his value 
for purposes of heavy draught ; for although the power 
of an animal in starting a given weight depends more 
upon his form and muscular development than upon 
mere size, yet size is indispensable to enable a horse to 
move off easily upon the road with a heavy load. 

" The quietness and exceedingly pleasant temper of 
the Justin Morgan is strikingly evidenced by the fact 
that he was often ridden and driven by ladies. A lady 
of St. Johnsbury once told us she remembered his 
appearance perfectly, and had repeatedly ridden him, 
when a girl, to balls and other parties; and spoke with 
much enthusiasm of his noble appearance, his high 
spirit, and perfect docility. 

" It is exceedingly difiicult to obtain accurate infor- 



MOBGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 315 

mation respecting the changes in owners that occurred 
to the horse at different times. To account for this 
uncertainty, we must consider that his fame has been 
almost entirely posthumous; that, although the cham- 
pion of his neighborhood, he was little valued, on 
account of his small size ; and it was not until after his 
death, and his descendants were exhibiting the powers 
of their sire, in speed, strength, and endurance, in al- 
most every village of Eastern Vermont, that people 
began to realize they had not properly appreciated him. 
For this reason, little notice was taken, at that time, of 
any change of owners : and many persons who very well 
recollect the horse, recollect nothing of these changes ; 
and those who claim to recollect them disagree much as 
to the dates at which his several owners purchased him. 
"As we have before stated, Mr. Morgan used him 
almost exclusively as a riding-horse ; though he broke 
him to harness, and occasionally used him in that way. 
After Mr. Morgan's death, he was sold by the estate to 
William Rice of Woodstock, Vt. Mr. Rice used him 
in the ordinary work of his farm for about two years, 
or until 1800 or 1801, when Robert Evans — who had 
been constantly on the watch for an opportunity to 
purchase since he hired him of Mr. Morgan — bought 
him. Mr. Evans was a poor man with a large family, 
and was what is called a great worker. In addition to 
the work upon his own place, he was constantly under- 
taking jobs for his neighbors, — clearing land, hauling 
logs, building fence, &c. The 'little horse' was Mr. 



316 THE PERFECT HOUSE. 

Evans's only team; and, of course, his labor was very- 
severe. Mr. Evans kept liim three or four years, or 
until 1804, when he was sued for debt. Col. John Goss 
became his bail, took the horse for security, and finally 
paid the debt, and kept him. Mr. John Goss was not 
much of a horseman, and therefore took the horse to 
his brother, David Goss of St. Johnsbury, who was 
quite a horseman, and made arrangements with him to 
keep him for a stock-horse. After David had kept him 
a year, he was so much pleased with him, that he ex- 
changed a fine mare with his brother for him, adding 
cash or other property. The horse, in this trade, was 
valued at one hundred dollars. Mr. David Goss kept 
him seven years, or until 1811 ; and it was while owned 
by him that the Hawkins, Fenton, and Sherman horses 
were sired. Mr. Goss kept him almost constantly at 
work on his farm, with the exception of about two 
months in the spring of each year. While his property, 
although put to hard work, the horse was not over- 
worked or abused, but was properly treated and cared 
for. David Goss sold him to his son Philip. Some 
of his colts about Randolph having grown up, and 
proved valuable, there was some inquiry for the horse 
in that vicinity; and he was accordingly taken back to 
that town. This was in 1811. 

"He was now nineteen years old ; and those who owned 
him at different times after this generally seemed eager 
to get rid of him, for fear he should die on their hands. 
Immediately after his return to Randolph, he seems to 



MORGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 317 

have been taken care of by Robert Evans, his former 
owner; for it was during this year that Bulrush was 
sired, and he was at that time in the possession of Mr. 
Evans. 

" Soon after this, or in the autumn of 1811, Philip 
Goss sold him to Jacob Sanderson. Sanderson sold him 
to a. Mr. Langmade, who used the old horse hard, con- 
sidering his age. He worked him some time in a six- 
horse team, hauling freight from Windsor to Chelsea. 
Under this treatment he became thin and poor, and was 
purchased for a trifle by Mr. Chelsea, and shortly after 
sold by him to Joel Goss of Claremont, N.H. Mr. 
Goss kept him one year, and sold him to Mr. Samuel 
Stone of Randolph. Mr. Stone kept him two or three 
years, or until 1819, when he sold him; and he soon 
after became the property of Levi Bean, who owned 
him until his death, which happened in the winter of 
1821 at the farm of Clifford Bean, situated about three 
miles south of the village of Chelsea, Vt. 

"At twenty-nine years of age, no cause need be 
assigned for his death but the .ravages of time and the 
usual infirmities of years. But old age was not the 
immediate cause of his death. He was not stabled, but 
was running loose in an open yard with other horses, 
and received a kick from one of them in the flank. Ex- 
posed without shelter to the inclemency of a Northern 
winter, inflammation set in, and he died. Before 
receiving the hurt which caused his death, he was 
perfectly sound, and entirely free from any description 



318 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

of blemish. His limbs were perfectly smootli, clean, 
free from any swelling, and perfectly limber and supple. 

"Those persons who saw him in 1819 and 1820 
describe his appearance as remarkably fresh and youth- 
ful. Age had not quenched his spirit, nor damped the 
ardor " of his temper ; years of severest labor had not 
sapped his vigor, nor broken his constitution ; his eye 
was still bright, and his step firm and elastic. 

"However various may be the opinions different per- 
sons may entertain respecting the merits of the Justin 
Morgan, we doubt whether any horse can be instanced, 
in this or any other country, that has so strikingly 
impressed upon his descendants, to the fifth and sixth 
generations, his own striking and valuable character- 
istics. And it may be safely asserted that the stock of 
no horse ever bred in this country has proved so gen- 
erally and largely profitable to the breeders of it. The 
raising of it has made the fortunes of hundreds of indi- 
viduals, and added hundreds of thousands, if not millions, 
of dollars to the wealth of Vermont and New Hamp- 
shire." 

I feel, also, that I can do no -greater service, to the 
general reader than to insert in this connectioil the fol- 
lowing history and description of the three sons of Jus- 
tin Morgan from which the Morgans of to-day have de- 
scended, — viz., Sherman, Woodbury, and Bulrush ; and 
I do it the more readily, because Mr. Linsley's work, 
from which the quotation is made, is out of print, very 
rare, and cannot be obtained : — 



MORGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 319 

" Sherman was foaled in 1808 or 1809, the property 
of James Sherman of Lyndon, Yt. It has been said 
that Sherman was foaled in 1810 ; and it has also been 
said that he was foaled in 1811. It is not at all sur- 
prising that his age should be understated by a year or 
two, as the horse who lives to be more than ten years 
old loses nothing so easily as one or two years of his 
age. 

" Our reasons for stating his age as we have are 
these : Mr. George Sherman, son of James Sherman, 
informs us that he has noAV been married forty-five 
years ; and that, in the summer after he was married, his 
father let him take the horse, then a colt, to keep and 
use. Mr. Sherman's wife also well recollects the above 
facts : but neither of them can say positively whether 
the colt was two or three years old, though both of 
them tliiiih he was three ; and, from the fact that Mr. 
Sherman used him a good deal that summer, it seems 
most probable that such was his age. Sherman was 
sired by the Justin. With regard to the blood of his 
dam, much has been said, and a good deal written ; but 
we think little is actually known. 

"Mr. George Sherman says his father brought the 
mare from Cranston, R.L, to Lyndon, Vt. ; that she 
was a chestnut, of good size, high-spirited, and an 
'elegant' animal. 'We called her of Spanish breed.' 

" The late Hon. EjDaphras Seymour of Brattleborough, 
Yt., a gentleman of fortune and high standing, and 
passionately fond of horses, spent much time in endeav- 



320 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

oring to ascertain the pedigree and early Mstory of the 
Justin Morgan and his descendants. Among the memo- 
randa left by him, now in possession of the Hon. F. 
Holbrook, which the latter gentleman has kindly per- 
mitted us to examine, we find the following : ' Matthew 
Allen of Guildhall, now seventy years old, or over, 
informs me that James Sherman and himself came from 
Rhode Island to St. Johnsbury in 1799. Before they 
left, Mr. John Brown of Providence gave Mr. Sherman 
an imported English mare of great beauty, a fine saddle- 
mare, and so used by his daughters (she was then spav- 
ined). She was a mahogany brown, fifteen and a half 
hands high, delicate make.' Mr. Allen goes on to state 
that this mare was the dam of the Sherman. 

"Mr. S. C. Gibbs of Littleton, N.H., who purchased 
the horse of Mr. James Sherman, gives the following 
account of the dam : ' She was bought at the South 
(I think in Virginia) by Mr. John Sherman of Provi- 
dence, KI., who had friends in that State. He pur- 
chased her for her beauty and speed. Soon after he 
returned with her, she unfortunately slipped her hip. 
He then gave her to his brother James of Lyndon.' 

" It has also been said that the dam was long owned 
by Nicholas Brown of Providence, Pt.L, one of the 
well-known firm of Brown & Ives, formerly a large 
importing-house. Mr. George Sherman says his father 
bou2:ht the mare of Dr. Fiske of Cranston, R.I. It is 
of little consequence which of these accounts is correct, 
as none of them undertake to give her pedigree. If 



MORGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 325 

and stuffed, and may still be seen at the stable of 
Mr. George Bellows, at Lancaster, N.H. 

" Sherman had not so bold and resolute a style of 
action, and was not so nervous and high-tempered, as 
Woodbury ; nor was he, in the language of the stable, 
so well ' finished up : ' but he was more tractable ; was 
exceedingly spirited, and a keen, rapid driver ; pos- 
sessed great powers of endurance, a free and noble 
spirit that needed neither whip nor spur, and courage 
that never flagged. 

"Woodbury — sometimes called the Burbank Horse, 
and known in Windsor County as the Walker Horse — 
was foaled the latter part of May, 1816, the property 
of Lyman Wight of Tunbridge, Vt. It has been said 
that he was raised by a ' Mr. White ; ' but this is a mis- 
take that would easily occur. The pronunciation of the 
two names is almost the same ; and, the latter being 
much more commonly used, the name has been mis- 
understood. Woodbury was sired by the Justin Mor- 
"gan. Of the blood of his dam we are unable to learn 
any thing. At the time the colt was foaled, Mr. Lyman 
Wight was a young man, about eighteen years old ; and 
the dam belonged to his father, William Wight, who 
had loaned her to his son for the purpose of raising a 
colt. She was five years old when the colt was born. 
Mr. Wight purchased her, the year before, of a Major 
John Moulton of Bethel, Vt., who brought her into 
that town. She was large, being over fifteen hands 



326 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

higli ; and weighed about eleven hundred pounds : she 
was of a deep bay-color, with black legs, mane, and tail, 
a small white spot in the forehead, and no other marks. 
She was not very compactly made, and was rather flat- 
ribbed ; but she had an excellent chest, fine shoulders 
and hips, and excellent limbs. Her head was very fine, 
ears good, and mane and tail beautiful. She carried her 
head high, was a very free, spirited driver, and was 
called fast at that time. She both paced and trotted, 
generally starting in the former gait, and, after going 
a short distance, changing it for a trot. When trotting 
she made a fine appearance, and, going fast, attracted 
much attention. She was a very fast walker. The 
autumn after the colt was foaled, about the usual time 
of weaning, Mr. Wight sold him to David Woodbury 
of Bethel, Vt., for fifty dollars. Mr. Woodbury kept 
him until grown, and sold him to his brother John. 

" John had a taste for good horses; and in his hands 
the horse began to be a little known. He kept him at 
Bethel and the neighboring towns a few years, and sold 
him to Ebenezer Parkhurst, who kept him in the same 
neighborhood until March, 1826, when he sold him to 
Simon Smith and William Walker of Hartland, Vt., for 
five hundred dollars. Soon after this, Messrs. Smith' 
and Walker dissolved partnership, Mr. Walker keeping 
Woodbury. Mr. Walker had a passion for horses. He 
saw and appreciated the remarkable features of the 
Justin Morgan and his stock, and took much pains to 
bring them into notice ; but, like many a pioneer in a 



MORGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 327 

new business, he could not make it pay : and, being a 
man of small means, lie was compelled to ' sacrifice his 
horse,' as he terms it, ' for the insignificant sum of 
four hundred dollars ; ' and sold him to Peter Burbank, 
Esq., of Newbury, Yt. Mr. Burbank was a lawyer, 
and not a farmer or breeder ; but he was fond of horses, 
and had a discriminating eye for their good points ; and 
having seen the Woodbury at Keene, N.H., he (in his 
own words) ' fell in love with him at first sight.' 
Fearing to trust to his own judgment alone, he con- 
sulted Jesse Johnson of Bradford, Yt., — a gentleman 
who not only possesses excellent taste as to the proper 
style and general figure of a fine horse, but has also 
that close, critical eye that seems almost at a glance to 
take in all the minute defects of form that a more care- 
less observer might fail to discover. Mr. Johnson did 
not fail to perceive the extraordinary merits of the 
horse, and advised Mr. Burbank to purchase him ; which 
he did the 20th of May, 1830. From this time until 
1836 he was taken charge of by Jesse Johnson and 
Brothers, and kept at their place in Bradford, Yt., 
during the winter and latter part of the summer and 
autumn of each year, and one or two years during all 
the seasons. During the years 1830 and 1831, he re- 
mained at their stable at Bradford. The season of 

1832 he was kept at Keene, N.H. ; the season of 

1833 he was kept at Burlington, Yt. ; and the seasons 
of 1835 and 1836 he was kept at Bradford and 
vicinity. In September, 1836, Mr. Burbank having 



328 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

died, the administrators of his estate sold him to Nor- 
man Baglee of Alabama, who took him to Gainesville 
in that State, where he died in 1838, being twenty-two 
years old, 

" Woodbury was fourteen and three-quarters hands 
high, and weighed from nine hundred and eighty-eight 
pounds to ten hundred and forty pounds. He was 
weighed several times ; and these two statements of his 
weight at different times are the extremes. Many 
persons who have frequently seen him weighed say 
they never knew him weigh more than ten hundred 
and thirty, nor less than ten hundi'ed and fifteen 
pounds. He was a dark, rich chestnut. His off hind-leg 
was white from the foot half way to the hock ; and he 
had a white stripe in his face, beginning at the edge of 
the upper lip, filling the space between the nostrils, and 
extending more than half way to his eyes. His mane 
was not very thick or long, and was lighter than either 
of the others : still it was full. His tail was cut off 
when a colt, and left about ten inches long : the hair 
was very full and curly. Both mane and tail were 
about the same color as his body. The hair on the 
body was fine, short, and soft. He was close and com- 
pactly built, with heavy quarters and deep flanks. His 
chest was good, and the shoulders finely shaped. He 
had a short back, and broad, sinewy loins. His legs had 
some long hairs on the back-side, but were well shaped, 
somewhat larger than Sherman's, and not so large as 
Bulrush's. His head was small and lean, with a fine, 



MORGAN HOUSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 321 

either had made an attempt to do this, the question 
would have possessed more interest, and some impor- 
tance. It certainly concerns us little to know in what 
manner or fi'om whom Mr. Sherman obtained her, if 
we cannot go beyond that, and learn something of her 
pedigree. We are inclined to think the statement of 
Mr. Sherman entitled to the most credit, because we 
think his means of knowing the facts of which he 
speaks were much superior to the others. His father 
used the horse several years, valued him highly, and 
was often interrogated as to the dam. George must 
have often heard his father describe the circumstances 
under which he obtained her : they must have been 
well known in the family ; and the constantly-increasing 
fame of the horse would keep alive in its members the 
recollection of them as related by James Sherman. 
Mr. George Sherman is a man whose character for the 
most unwavering honesty has been long and thoroughly 
established where he is known. 

" Whoever may have bred the mare, and whether of 
Spanish or English descent, it is certain she was a fine 
animal. She was chestnut, with three white feet, and 
a white stripe in the face. Her head was good ; ears 
small ; neck light, and rather long ; not very compactly 
formed ; and never ' carried much flesh.' She carried 
her head high ; was a spirited traveller, and an excellent 
saddle-beast. She was very pleasant-tempered, and 
worked kindly in all places. 

" ' Sherman ' was a bright chestnut, about thirteen 

21 



322 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

and three-quarters hands high, and weighed nine hun- 
dred and twenty-five pounds. His off hind-leg was 
white from the foot half way to the hock, and he had a 
small white stripe in the flice. His head was lean and 
well shaped ; ears small and fine ; eyes inclined to be 
small, but full, prominent, and lively. His legs had some 
long hairs upon the back-side, but were broad, flat, and 
sinewy. He had a capital chest, with the breast-bone 
very prominent. The shoulders were large, and well 
placed ; the neck excellent ; the mane and tail full, but 
not remarkably heavy. His hips were long and deep, 
the loins broad and muscular; but he was a little hollow 
or ' sway -backed : ' still no suspicion of a weak back 
could attach to him, or he would have broken down 
under the rough treatment he received in early life. 
When four years old, Mr. Sherman put him to hard 
work ; and though, for about two months in the spring 
of each year, he worked but little, yet, the remainder of 
the year, his labor was very severe. Mr. Sherman was 
a hard-working man, and animals under his charge had 
few opportunities to rest. Most of the year the horse 
was kept constantly at work on the farm, much of 
which he helped to ' clear up.' In the winter, Mr. 
Sherman usually ran a team steadily from Lyndon, Yt., 
to Portland, Me. For several years, this team consisted 
of this horse and a half-brother, sired by the Justin 
Morgan, a year older and a little larger than Sherman. 

" Mr. Sherman was not a man to be outdone at 
drawing or driving ; and he was always ready to match 



MOEGAN HORSE : HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 323 

his team against any he met, either to draw or rmi, for 
a trifling wager. His ' little team ' became famous at 
every inn from Lyndon to Portland ; and, after a time, 
the teamsters that knew them were afraid to match 
horses of any size against them. In the spring, when 
the sleighing became poor, the men who had been com- 
panions through the winter in the severe labor of 
teaming across the country would often congregate at 
the village taverns to spin yarns of their simple but 
rough adventures, engaging in wrestling, running foot 
and horse races, drawing-matches, and many games 
invented to test the speed or strength of either men or 
horses. In addition to these attractions, the prospect 
of a social glass of ' old Santa Cruz ' may have had 
some influence in drawing together the people collect- 
ed on these occasions ; for it was at that time considered 
a pleasant beverage, and it was not generally known 
to be a subtle poison. Certain it is that these games 
were well attended, and were conducted with much 
spirit. Drawing-matches were at that time very com- 
mon. At Lyndon, the usual way of drawing was to 
attach a horse to a sled, fill it with men, and draw the 
load up a steep hill just north of the tavern. ' When 
each Ms utmost strength had shoiu%'' Sherman would 
add a small boy to the largest load, and commence the 
ascent, well satisfied if he could gain two or three feet 
at a pull ; for nothing discouraged his horse, and it 
was difiicult to load him so that he could not move a 
little. These facts are perfectly well known to many 



324 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

persons now living at Lyndon ; and we mention them, 
not from any intrinsic interest tliey may possess, but, 
having said that Sherman was shghtly hollow-backed, 
we thought it necessary to show, that, if so, his back 
was by no means weak. 

" Such was the kind of service to which Mr. Sher- 
man put his horse from the time he was four years old 
until he was about ten, when he sold him to Stephen 
C. Gibbs of Littleton, N.H., in 1819. Mr. Gibbs kept 
him one year, and sold him to John Buckminster of 
Danville, Vt. ; but Mr. Gibbs had charge of him two 
years longer. After this, he was kept at Danville and 
vicinity until 1829, when he was purchased of Mr. 
Buckminster by Mr. John Bellows of Lancaster, N.H. 
The summer of 1829 he was kept at Littleton, N.H., 
in charge of Stephen C. Gibbs; in 1830 he was kept 
at Dover and vicinity ; in 1831 he was at Col. Jaques's 
Ten-hills Farm, Charlestown, Mass. ; in 1832 he was 
at Dover and Durham, N.H. ; in 1833 he was kept at 
Lancaster, N.H. ; and in 1834, at Dover and vicinity. 
He died at Mr. Bellows's stable, in Lancaster, the 9th 
of January, 1835. The cause of his death is unknown. 
He was left at ten o'clock in the morning apparently 
perfectly well ; and, at one o'clock in the afternoon, he 
was found dead. 

" With the exception of some slight indications of 
age, he was apparently as free from every species of 
blemish or infirmity the morning of the day he died 
as when he was foaled. His skin has been preserved 



MOKGA>? HOKSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 333 

any imputation of sway-back than any of his brothers ; 
though, towards the close of his life, he indeed fell away 
in his loins, as is always the case in old stallions. His 
hips were very good, but not so long as Sherman's ; and 
he was not so well quartered as Woodbury ; but he was 
deeper in the chest than either of them. His shoulders 
were thicker, and not so well placed ; and his head and 
neck were not so well set uj). He was not so proud, 
bold, and lofty in his carriage, as Woodbury; and he 
had not Sherman's short, nervous step, and tractable but 
high-spirited temper : but he was a sharp, quick driver, 
and a faster trotter than either of them. He was a 
little inclined to be cross ; but was not fierce, or in any 
respect unmanageable : on the contrary, he was very 
kind in harness, always working pleasantly wherever 
put. His most remarkable characteristic was his power 
of endurance. For this, we think it is generally admit- 
ted, he had no rival ; and his extraordinary lastingness 
has become proverbial where he was known. His stock 
bear a strong resemblance to him, and are very numer- 
ous ; are mostly dark bay without marks, never sorrel 
or light chestnut. Occasionally a dark gray, from a 
white mare, may be found. Bulrush was about fourteen 
hands high, and weighed about one thousand pounds. 

" Bulrush, Sherman, and Woodbury were treated 
very much alike. Until after ten years old, each of 
them was employed most of the time at the ordinary 
team-work of a farm ; and at no period of their lives did 
they have any more care than the common horses of 



334 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

the country, and never liacl mucli knowledge of thick 
blankets and warm stables, but were early inured to the 
labor and hardship, fatigue and exposure, incident to a 
new and mountainous country and a cold climate. It is 
not improbable that the cold, dry atmosphere and pure 
water of our mountains has contributed as much as the 
rich pastures of our valleys to the stoutness, courage, 
and lastingness of our horses. 

" We have thus slightly sketched the more obvious 
distinctions and general characteristics of these celebrat- 
ed sons of the original or Justin Morgan. While they 
differed in the particulars we have herein set forth, 
(which difference was rather in the degree than the na- 
ture of their qualities), they all possessed the great and 
striking features of their distinguished sire. The same 
compactness of form, great muscular development, 
hardy, rugged constitution, docility and tractableness, 
short, easy, rapid step, eager ambition, and lofty cour- 
age, so remarkable in him, were found in each of them 
in a hi^fh decrree. Throu^^h these noble channels the 
blood of the Justin Morgan has been poured profusely 
into the hitherto hardy stock of Yermont, conveying 
not only the very form of the great original, but all his 
unrivalled vigor, grace, and ease of motion, combined 
with his docility and matchless courage." 

To resume our remarks, T would observe that we 
must consider that New England has never had any 
stock-horses able to perpetuate their name and fame 



MORGAN HOESE : HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 335 

save tliose of Morgan blood. Hiram Woodruff, in his 
" Trotting-Horse of America," says, p. 283, — 

" The Eastern States have always been a fine nursery 
for trotting-horses. The fine action of the Morgan 
breed, and their good tempers and sound constitutions, 
helped a great deal ; but New England was still more 
largely indebted to the two sons of Messenger, — Ham- 
bletonian and Bush Messenger: I mean the one that 
went to Maine." 

Now, I would like to ask what ground is there to say 
that New England is more indebted to the Messenger 
than the ^ilorgan blood ? Why, there was not strength 
enough in the Bush Messenger to establish a family, or 
even a branch of a family. Where is there a Messen- 
ger stallion in Maine that traces back to the original 
Bush Messenger as Gen. Knox traces back directly to 
old Justin Morgan ? What Messenger horse in Maine 
has ever gotten a Gilbreth Knox, or Camors? Go to 
Vermont, and find a descendant of a Hambletonian horse 
that has ever trotted a mile in 2.15 as Ethan Allen has. 
The fact is, there are no such descendants. The words 
" Hambletonian " and "Bush Messenger" can be seen 
very plainly on paper ; but, Avhen you come to search 
for stallions descended from them, where are they ? 
Is there one in Maine? Can you find one in New 
Hampshire ? What town in Vermont shall I visit to 
see one ? Has Massachusetts any ? How many are 
there in Connecticut ? The fact is, New England has 
not, and never has had, any famous stock-horse outside 



336 THE PERFECT HOESE. 

of the Morgan family. Look over the field and at the 
list to-day. Gen. Knox and his great son Gilbreth, Win- 
throp Morrill, Fearnanght, Taggart's Abdallah, Ethan 
Allen and his wonderful stock-getting son Lambert, 
Young Morrill, Woodstock Morrill, Gen. Lyon, Defiance, 
and many others, all trace back straight to old Justin 
Morgan. Now, over against this list I ask the reader to 
put the Bush-Messenger stock or Hambletonian stock, 
to which some people think New England is so in- 
debted for her fast horses. The truth is, the Morgan 
family has no rival in New England, and never has had. 
The Clay stock and the Hambletonian stock may, in the 
future, enter the field in competition ; but, up to this 
time, the wreath belongs to the Morgans. 

I have already shown that three of the four great 
elements needed to make a perfect horse — viz., beauty, 
docility, endurance — the Morgan horse had and has. 
But men say, " The Morgan horse had no speed." The 
ignorance or audacity that prompts this assertion is 
simply astounding. The truth is, no family of horses in 
America has ever produced so many fast trotting-horses 
as the Morgan. If you ask what I call a fast horse, I 
respond, A horse that will trot a mile in a public race in 
2.40 is a fast horse. Of all the races trotted this year 
in public, it is safe to say that the average rate of 
speed will not be under 2.40. I take it, therefore, as a 
standard ; and a fair one it is too ; and, in proof of 
what I have said, I refer the reader to the "record" of 
time made by Morgan horses on pp. 300, 301. 



MORGAN HORSE : HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 329 

firm muzzle; the nostrils very large and full; face 
straight, very wide between the eyes, which were dark 
hazel, very large and prominent, and showed no white 
around the edge of the lid. His ears were small and 
fine, but rather short, and set somewhat wider apart 
than many would consider consistent with perfect 
beauty. His style of action was bold and resolute ; 
and his temperament was so nervous, that, when taken 
out with a bridle, it was almost impossible to keep him 
still. He was a good driver, and appeared well in 
iarness ; but he appeared to the best advantage under 
ihe saddle. Militia colonels and generals were eager 
to ride him ; and no ' musters ' or reviews could pass 
vithout his being seen : in his case, to be seen was to 
be admired. His disposition was pleasant and playful. 

" As has'been said, he was taken to Gainesville, Ala., 
• in the autumn of 1836, being then twenty years old. 
H< was shipped from Boston on board a small sailing- 
vCisel. He suffered much fi'om the long and stormy 
pasage, and never fully recovered from the effects of 
it. It is altogether likely that the climate and food did 
notigree with him; for neither was such as he had been 
accistomed to : however this may be, it is certain he 
contnued to fail until he died, in 1838. Woodbury 
was the largest of these horses, and possessed in a 
greatir degree the bold, fearless, and showy style of 
their ;ire. He was more nervous and less tractable 
than Sierman, better under the saddle, not so pleasant 
in hariess, and, we are inclined to think, hardly as good 



330 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

a roadster. His form was more symmetrical than either 
of the others. His breast was not so full and prominent 
as Sherman's. He was deeper in the flanks, and better 
quartered. No horse ever had less fear. Martial music 
only roused him ; the firing of guns in no way disturbed 
him ; waving flags and gay uniforms seemed hardly able 
to attract from him a single glance ; and he moved 
about as if he were himself the principal object of 
attraction, and the cause of all the attending excitement 
and display. 

" Bulrush was foaled in 1812 or 1813. Of this Tv-a 
think there can be no reasonable doubt ; although 
it has been stated that he was foaled in 1816. ^^e 
have consulted persons who owned both Bulrush aid 
Woodbury ; and they all agree that Bulrush was tie 
older of the two. Now, there is no question but tlat 
Woodbury was foaled in 1816 ; and, if Bulrush vas 
older, it is altogether probable that he was more tian 
one year older : for the Justin Morgan was taker to 
Claremont early in the spring of 1814, and remaned 
there one year ; and the dam of Bulrush was ownd in 
Randolph, Vt., the year he was sired ; so that, h the 
absence of any other testimony, we might very r<ason- 
ably conclude that he was not foaled later than 1814. 
But the testimony of Chester Belknap is clea* and 
direct, that he was foaled in 1812. Mr. Belknp was 
married in 1819. His father, who raised the horse, 
owned him at that time, and soon after sold him to 



MORGAN HOESE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 331 

Abel Densmore of Chelsea, Vt. : he was then seven 
years old. This statement of Mr. Belknap's in relation 
to the age of Bulrush is confirmed by many persons 
who knew him well ; and there can hardly be a doubt 
that it is correct. The blood of the dam of Bulrush is 
unknown. She was a dark bay, with black legs, and 
heavy black mane and tail. She was low and compact ; 
had heavy limbs, with large jomts; neck rather long; a 
good head, but did not carry it up very well. She was 
a sharp trotter, but was not a very spirited driver. She 
was said to be, and had the appearance of being, part 
French. She was owned by Mr. Moses Belknap of 
Randolph, Yt., at the time Bulrush was sii'ed. Mr. 
Belknap obtained her of a Mr. Boutwell, a teamster 
from Montpelier, Vt, who worked her in a six-horse 
team, hauling merchandise and produce between Mont- 
j)elier and Boston. She was a very rugged, hardy, en- 
during animal ; but Mr. Boutwell thought her too small 
for his business, and he exchanged her with Mr. Belk- 
nap for a larger horse. She weighed about ten hun- 
dred pounds. Mr. Belknap sold her late in the winter, 
when in foal by Justin Morgan, to Ziba Gifford, Esq., of 
Tunbridge, Yt. ; Mr. Gifford to keep the colt until four 
months old, and return it to Mr. Belknap ; or pay thir- 
teen dollars more,' and keep it. Mr. Gifford preferred 
to return the colt ; and did so. 

" Mr. Belknap kept Bulrush in Tunbridge and "vdcini- 
ty until 1819, when he sold him to Abel Densmore of 
Chelsea, Yt. Mr. Densmore sold him to Darius Sprague 



332 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

of Randolph, Yt. ; who' sold him, March 8, 1826, to 
Messrs. Simon Smith and William Walker of Hartland, 
Vt., for three hundred and fifty dollars. They kept 
him at Hartland and vicinity until they dissolved part- 
nership in 1829, when Mr. Smith took Bulrush to Maid- 
stone, Vt. He kept him one year at Chelsea, and two 
years in the State of Maine ; and in 1833 sold him to 
Jesse Johnson and Brothers of Bradford, Vt. The 
season of 1833 he was kept at Bradford, Vt., and 
Bath, N.H. ; the season of 1834, at Keene, N.H. ; the 
season of 1835, at Lyme, N.H., and Bradford, Vt. ; 
and the season of 1836, at Burlington, Vt. During the 
winter of 1836 and 1837 the Messrs. Johnson sold him 
to Messrs. Blake and Foss of Chelsea, Vt., who kept 
him in that town until 1842, when they sold him to 
Lewis Jenkins of Fairlee, Vt., who kept him at Fairlee 
until he sold him to F. A. Weir of Walpole, N.H., who 
kept him until he died, in 1848. 

" Bulrush was a dark bay, with a few white hairs in 
his forehead, and no other marks. His legs, mane, and 
tail were black ; and his mane and tail were very heavy : 
the former came down nearly to his knees, and his 
foretop came down to his nose. His tail was cut off 
when young, and left about nine or ten inches long. 
His legs were large, and had some long hair ; were close- 
jointed, broad, flat, and exhibited a more striking de- 
velopment of muscle than either Woodbury's or Sher- 
man's. His back was not so short as either of the 
others' ; but it was very broad, and he was freer fi'om 



MORGAN HORSE: HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 337 

I do not wish to have any suppose that I regard the 
Morgan family of horses as sufficient in itself to meet 
the wants of the future in respect to breeding. The 
perfect horse, or rather the family of perfect horses, is 
yet to appear. That it will appear in due time, I have 
no doubt ; but it will not appear while ignorance and 
prejudice, or mere chance of locality, is allowed to dic- 
tate the selection of dam and horse from which the foal 
is to spring. So long as a Fearnaught man can see 
nothing valuable in a Knox or a Lambert, or a patron 
of Hambletonian will not admit that great excellences 
exist in the Clays, — so long as such arrogant and non- 
sensical opinions prev.ail, the perfect horse can never be 
raised, unless as an accident ; but when the breeders 
of the countr^^ will drop their foolishness and envious 
fear one of another, and come together as friends, and 
students of those laws which govern the propagation 
of animals, and seek to assist, rather than thwart, each 
other, then will the first step be taken in that path 
along which the enterprise can walk to its highest suc- 
cess. For one, I regard myself happy in this, — that I 
am free from prejudice, devoid of envy, and know no 
other rivalry than that of generous and candid emu- 
lation. In my native State, where are my stables, 
are several stock-horses worthy of public patronage, — 
Buckingham, Thomas Jefferson, Rysdyk, Mambrino, 
Ashland. These horses are not enemies, they are allies, 
of mine. From their get I look to receive my best 
crosses in the future. The bloods of Bashaw, Hamble- 

22 



338' THE PERFECT HOESE. 

tonian, Lexington, are precious bloods to me. They 
will re-enforce my stables with strains otherwise unat- 
tainable. I would that Connecticut had twenty such 
animals! They would add fifty per cent to my chances 
of success. This, as I understand it, is not only honora- 
ble in point of feeling, but wise in point of business. 
The owners of celebrated stock-horses can only be ene- 
mies while they are ignorant. The moment that one is 
intelligent enough to perceive and appreciate the lack 
of certain excellences in his family of colts, that mo- 
ment he naturally resorts to the owner of some other 
breed for assistance ; and so financial profit and friendly 
companionship run into each other, and become one. 

I have been asked to write my impressions touching 
the proper families which could be mutually benefited 
by intercrossing. I know no reason why my views 
should not be frankly stated ; and I propose to write 
them out for the reader's inspection, letting them go for 
what they are worth. 

Of the Hambletonian family — which, of course, is the 
same with the Abdallahs, save in name — I have this to 
say : Many of the old horse's get are no honor to him, 
and unfit for stock-purposes. His best sons are those 
out of Star mares, or thorough-breds of other families. 
With such mares for dams, his get is remarkable, and 
worthy of all patronage by the public. With his third 
and fourth rate sons no breeder should have any thing 
to do. As a fiimily, they are open to the charge of 
being too heavy and coarse-looking for beauty, with 



MORGAN HORSE : HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 8o9 

head, ears, and legs larger than they should be; over 
long in the back ; and although they are great striders, 
yet their heels stay too long under the wagon. A first- 
class son of the old horse is likely to be a prize : the 
others should be let severely alone. 

In respect to the Clays I have this to say : That cer- 
tain parties have seen fit to attempt to underrate their 
sterling qualities, and to fasten upon them an odious 
epithet. It has been a sweet saying in certain mouths 
that the "Clays wouldn't stick." Hiram Woodruff dis- 
covered that George M. Patchen would "stick" a little 
too near him for comfort, even when he had that marvel 
of speed and bottom, Flora Temple, — and in her highest 
condition too, -; — ahead of him. I had the pleasure of 
seeing Goldsmith's Maid trot her greatest heat at Mystic 
Track when she made the mile in 2.16J ; and I saw a 
Clay mare named Lucy — not an entire stranger to the 
trotting-public, T think — stick so close to the flying 
beauty, that the least waver or let-up in her gait would, 
up to the very moment she darted under the wire, have 
lost her the race. So long as the name of George ]\I. 
Patchen, — the only horse that could ever keep his nose 
to Flora Temple's saddle-girths the mile round, — and 
Lucy, — the only horse living able to keep at the shoul- 
ders of Goldsmith Maid from wire to wire, — so lono- as 
these names remain, the man who says that the " Clays 
will not stick," but are "quitters," is a fool or a slan- 
derer ; for Patchen was the greatest horse, save one, of his 
day, and Lucy is the fastest horse, save one, in our time. 



340 THE PEEFECT HORSE. 

The Clays are a valuable family ; and no one can gain- 
say it. I would cross them with the Morgan family. 
A Clay mare crossed with Ethan Allen or his son Lam- 
bert, or Taggart's Abdallah, would, in my opinion, be 
exceedingly likely to bring forth a foal whose speed 
would only be rivalled by his beauty. The same cross 
essentially would be gotten by coupling the mare with 
Gold Dust, in whose veins the blood of the Morgan and 
the Arabian happily unite. I think New England 
would be greatly the gainer if several first-class Gold- 
Dust and Clay stallions were brought within her borders. 

The Morrill tribe is a branch of the Morgan family, 
and quite largely re-enforced with Messenger blood ; 
the original Morrill horse being a great-grandson of 
imported Messenger. • They are, as a class, a trifle coarse, 
and of over-size ; but they are marvels of muscular 
development and of high and generous spirit. They 
are born trotters, and of most imposing action. The 
Fearnaught branch of this family is the most noted, and 
represents the happy result of coarsenesss bred away, 
and speed and vigor retained. I think a first-class 
Morrill filly, bred to Taggart's Abdallah, or Lambert, 
would produce a colt that would gladden a horseman's 
eye. 

The Knox horses belong to another branch of the 
Morgan family. They are marked strongly with the 
trotting-instinct. Gilbreth Knox is one of the very fast- 
est stallions of the country, of fine appearance and most 
excellent disposition, and should be kept as a stock- 



MORGAN HORSE : HIS RELATION TO BREEDING. 341 

horse. It is a public loss when such an animal is 
monopolized for private purposes. The Knox colts 
are apt to be rather coarse, especially about the head ; 
and should be crossed with fine-bred, gamy-looking 
mares. Their friends must understand that speed alone 
is not enough to make a colt valuable to-day, save for 
pure gambling-purposes; that beauty must be borne 
in mind when breeding. A coarse head, big ears, 
small eyes, and long hair, are detestable in a true 
horseman's eye, and should be bred out of the family 
which happens to be cursed with them just as soon as 
it is possible to do it. The fact is, the Messenger family 
was a coarse-looking family. The old Messenger was a 
coarse horse : his most famous descendant, Abdallah, was 
coarser yet, with a big head, little or no mane, a rat- 
tail, an overplus of bone-substance, and an ashen-colored 
rump. This ancestral coarseness is continually cropping 
out in his descendants. There is more than one colt in 
America with the homely Abdallah body and Messenger 
head, without their speed. Tliorougli-hred does not al- 
ways mean beauty by a long-shot, as the lop-eared 
Melbournes and the coarse-looking Messengers prove. 
Breed an Abdallah mare to a high-bred Morgan stal- 
lion, and you will be very likely to get a colt with 
the beauty of the sire and the speed of the dam. 
If you do, you have got a "hit" indeed. 

But I will detain the reader no longer with my 
speculations. The task which has consumed the leisure 
of years is completed ; and I have, at least, the author's 



842 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

pleasure, — that his work at last is clone. Amid other 
and graver cares, its composition has been a delight. 
My mind has felt, in writing it, like a boy at play. 
It has revelled in what to some might seem a toil ; 
and even now it hovers over the closing page as 
a bee mis-ht hover around a flower to which it had 
given nothing but the music of its presence, from which 
it had received food and sweetness for cold and dreary 
days. If, while thus ministering to my own happiness, 
I have added any thing at all to the common good, in 
adding to which man finds his best and only lasting 
monument, I am more than repaid. 



AGEICULTUEE AND THE HOESE. 



. BY GEORGE B. LORING. 



AGEIGULTUEE AND THE HOESE. 

BY GEORGE B. LOEING. 

"PThex, in the early spring of 1864, a large body 
of the representative farmers of the New-England States 
assembled at Worcester, in response to my call, for the 
purpose of organizing the New-England Agricultural 
Society, it was undoubtedly true that no man of all 
that enterprising number had any definite idea of the 
precise object, or of the possible result, of the proposed 
organization. New England was then, as it is now, 
full of local and state agricultural societies, all engaged 
in useful labor. But the suggestion that new energy 
might be infused into the agricultural community by 
a new association, in which a broader field might be 
represented, in which a wider interest might be awa- 
kened, and in which a larger class of teachers and 
learners might be gathered together, was enthusias- 
tically accepted ; while the problem was left to work 
itself out in its own way. The belief that something 
might be done, both by investigation and by experi- 
ment, for the benefit of agriculture, was unanimously 

345 



346 AGEICULTUEE AND THE HOKSE. 

entertained. It is probable that an interchange of 
thought among the men of New England had its charms 
for many, especially for that large class of agricultural 
debaters who will not, under any circumstances, allow 
any question to be definitely settled. There were those 
who looked forward to the publication of an elaborate, 
well-prepared, scientific periodical of agricultural litera- 
ture, in which the most accurate deductions and laws 
might be found. An enlarged acquaintance " among 
the farmers of New England, a better knowledge of 
the various modes of agriculture adopted by them, a 
kind association with each other superior to all differ- 
ences of opinion, had great temptations, and were 
full of pleasing promise to many. Those gentlemen 
who represented the agriculture of Maine were rejoiced 
to bring their observations upon the horses and grass- 
lands and cattle and potato-patches of that State into 
a wider field: and as they enlarged upon what they 
had done, and were doing, along then" varied seashore, 
and in the valleys of the Kennebec and Penobscot and 
Sandy Elvers, they listened with intense interest to 
the wise discourse of the merino -kings of Vermont 
upon the subject of sheep-husbandry ; and to the views 
of the tobacco-growers and market-gardeners and fruit- 
raisers of Massachusetts upon the best methods of 
wringing from the soil the largest and most profitable 
crops ; and to the discussion of the herdsmen of Rhode 
Island and Connecticut upon the comparative merits 
of their Short-horns and Devous and Ayrshu'cs; and 



AGKICULTUEE AND THE HOESE. 3-47 

to the well-expressed opinions of the Nestor of New- 
England agriculture, as he told of all the various 
economies of his own State of New Hampshire, with 
her hard soil and industrious people. New light 
poured in from every quarter. It became evident that 
nothing would satisfy this inquiring and busy multi- 
tude but an exhibition of their own cattle and crops, 
and implements of husbandry; and that no questions 
could be settled by them, except through observation 
and investigation. The exhibition at Springfield, the 
first year of the organization of the society, was re- 
markable for the intellectual and material wealth which 
it brought together. It was a new day for New- 
England farming. The debaters were out. Agassiz, 
for the first time, presented his wealth of scientific 
culture in his discussions with the practical breeders 
and cultivators. Gov. Andrew poured forth the great- 
ness of a great agricultural address. Many an obscure 
herd came up for the honors of the occasion. Horses 
as yet unknown to fame sought the "bubble reputation" 
there for the first time. New-England ingenuity cov- 
ered the ground with implements new and old, tried 
and untried. The cultivators of crops brought out 
their most startling products. Representatives of the 
fabulous flocks of Vermont came forth to demonstrate 
the value of their golden fleeces. The occasion was 
memorable for all the domestic birds of the air, and 
beasts of the field. 

Among the most attractive and absorbing of all the 



348 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

topics which occupied the attention of those who sat 
araund the cradle of the New-England Agricultural 
Society was the Horse. The precise relations which 
the horse holds to agriculture ; the profit to be derived 
from breeding this animal; his true value in an eco- 
nomic point of view ; the exact utility of an animal which 
matures slowly, leads an expensive life, is not used for 
food, has a sentimental as well as a useful existence; 
how best to breed him, and feed him, and shelter him, 
and shoe him, and drive him ; how to admit him into 
the agricultural circle, — these subjects occupied, and 
somewhat confused and disturbed, the minds of those 
agricultural fathers assembled there. That there was 
deep respect for the horse there, no one could deny. 
That there was considerable doubt about him, was very 
evident. That there was a great deal of ignorance with 
regard to him, was manifest. That he was very much 
misunderstood, was apparent. When the question was 
asked, how to breed a really good horse for a specific 
purpose, — a horse of intelligence and patience, and 
courage and sagacity, and good physical powers, — it 
was delightful to see with what sublime simplicity the 
great disciple of the great Cuvier sat and listened to 
the profound deductions of the practical breeders who 
had kept practical stallions, whose success they were 
anxious to attribute more to their own practical wis- 
dom than to the occasional good fortune which''Vill 
always attend a multitude of chances. When the 
question of feeding arose, it was surprising to see by 



AGEICULTUEE AND THE HOESE. 349 

what various dietetic processes a good colt could be 
brought to the most complete and thorough maturity. 
When the problem of an ailing dumb beast, ignorant 
of its own sensations, and incapable of communicating 
its story of aches and pains to others, came up, the 
multifarious remedies astonished an observing mind 
more than the diverse and complicated diseases. That 
there was a little confusion now and then cannot be 
denied, but no more than may be found on almost 
every subject in a large general assembly. There was 
a good deal said about the value of the thorough-bred 
as a trotter, and the worthlessness of cold-blooded 
horses without pedigrees for any purpose. There were 
a good many claims put in for thorough-blood in be- 
half of honest New-England horses whose lineage 
could be traced for generations into and through all 
the barn-yards of their native districts. Many a strong- 
footed, stout-limbed, swinging-gaited, ample-headed, 
coarse-haired horse, going at his track- work with the 
determination of a prize-fighter, and measuring his 
strides with his strong shoulders and quarters as regu- 
larly as the pistons of a locomotive, was found to be 
descended from some daisy-cutting son of Godolphin, 
brought over by some unknown army-officer, or sent 
over to colonize a new world. The valuable services 
of a remarkable " red " horse as a stock-o:etter in one 
section were elaborately set forth. An account was 
given of a "sorrel horse with black points," which had 
travelled a hundred miles in ten hours* " two men to 



350 AGEICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

a wagon." And a great deal was said about a Per- 
clieron stallion, which weighed nearly two thousand 
pounds, and could trot a mile in less than three 
minutes. 

It was during the repeated and prolonged sessions 
and intricate debates which attended the early life of 
the New-England Agricultural Society that an informal 
assembly of its members found itself brought together, 
more by accident than design, at the residence of one 
of the friends of the association. There was no special 
arrangement about the proceedings. Some one pres- 
ent, remembering that our old friend Mr. Alcott never 
opened one of his charming mystical conversations 
without calling on his audience to "come to some 
order," had secured just organization enough to bring 
the meeting to a working-capacity. The discussion 
was not systematic; perhaps not as well defined and 
well sustained as it should have been. The delibera- 
tions were of that fragmentary description which so 
often follows long and earnest debate, and precedes 
" the conclusion of the whole matter." Every branch 
of agricultural investigation and of an agricultural ex- 
hibition had been carefully explored, when the chair- 
man casually remarked that he thought the Horse 
should receive the devoted attention of the best men 
of the society. "Our exhibitions must be made attrac- 
tive," said he; "and the profits to be derived from a 
judicious and intelligent breeding of horses are so great, 
that we must 'endeavor to bring forward the horse as 



AGEICUT.TURE AND THE HOUSE. 351 

a matter of business to an agricultural community, as 
well as of pleasure to the patrons of our society." 

This remark, which seemed to be innocent enough, 
and had, in fact, been often made before without at- 
tracting particular attention, appeared to fall with un- 
usual force upon the minds of the little assembly, and to 
displace the charming listlessness which pervaded it 
with something slightly sterner and more thoughtful. 

The Hon. Justus Jones was the first to speak. He 
had not taken an active part in the discussions thus far, 
but had impressed his associates as a modest, moderate 
gentleman, desirous of securing the success of the soci- 
ety, and placing the agricultural interests on a firm and 
controllins: foundation. 

SPEECH OF THE HOX. JUSTUS JOXES. 

"Mr. Chairman," said Mr. Jones, half rising, and 
then settling back into his seat, as if his audience was 
too small for an upright orator, — " ^Ir. Chairman, I have 
listened to the proposition, or rather the remark, which 
you have just made ; and I am not prepared to say that 
you are not correct. But I am not much of a horseman. 
There has been but little love of horses in my family. 
We have never owned a very good horse. In fact, the 
stock of my farm has never been large ; and I cannot 
say that it has been in any way remarkable. Large, 
heavy oxen are expensive : a small yoke answers every 
purpose. Medium animals, fairish cows, oxen that do 
not command fancy prices, are the best, ' as we think, 



352 AGRICULTITRE AISTD THE HORSE. 

for the general run of farmers. We sell some hay and 
some wood, and we find small cattle and a moderate 
horse are best for this business : there is less risk in 
them ; and they answer just as well. But the risk of 
the horse we never run if we can avoid it. For one, 
I think I am afraid of horses. I never feel exactly easy 
about them. They seem to be a very uncertain animal. 
They see things ; they stumble ; they want a master. 
They are adapted to all bad occasions ; are at home in 
a muster-field just as much as in a cornfield, at a fight 
as at a church. The truth is, I do not understand 
horses, and want to have nothing to do with them. I 
wish they did not exist. And as to premiums for stal- 
lions and mares and colts, ■ — why, I remember with pride 
that the old agricultural society to which I belong — one 
of the first in the country — gave no premiums for horses 
during the first fifteen years of its history. I have 
been told that there is one now in existence which 
gives the smallest possible space for this uncertain and 
unscrupulous animal. I suppose it would not do to 
run a society without them. But then, sir," — and here 
Mr. Jones rose to his feet, — " what repose would follow 
their expulsion from the society of those graver animals 
which belong by right to a cattle-show ? Imagine, sir, 
a return to those peaceful hours when horses were un- 
known, — to the palmy days of Elisha, who was found 
ploughing, not with horses, but with the patient oxen ; 
to the days of Job, who revelled in oxen and asses ; 
to the times when a horse was so mean and unworthy, 



I 




\. m 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 353 

that, while man was forbidden to covet his neighbors 
ox and his ass, no such provision was made with regard 
to his horse. The horse, sir, has always been a type 
and symbol of every thing proud, imperial, and aggres- 
sive. He may submit to the hardships of poverty and 
toil ; but he is most at home among the lordly and the 
aristocratic. Nowhere in history, sacred or profane, is 
he associated with the gentler and more lowly qualities 
of man, or devoted to the truly useful service of life 
alone. While all our other domestic animals performed 
their part in the daily labor of society, and either bore 
the priest to the temple, or were found worthy of 
being offered up a sacrifice on the altar, the horse had 
his ' neck clothed with thunder ; ' he smelled ' the bat- 
tle aflir off; ' his joy was in ' the thunder of the cap- 
tains, and the shouting.' Never under any Christian 
interpretation has he found his way into the best of 
creation ; but through the Oriental imagery of the Mus- 
sulman alone, responsive to the pseudo - divinity of 
Mohammed, has he been elevated to his lofty position, 
pretender that he is, among the beasts of the earth. 

" It was an Arab chieftain, swelling with Mahometan 
arrogance, bloated with Mahometan superstitions, gritty 
with the sands of the desert, who set God to work 
making a horse out of the south wind, and binding 
'fortune on his mane,' and reposing 'riches in his 
loins,' and making him with the 'sign of glory and 
of happiness,' and then declaring to the misguided 
Adam, who chose this tempestuous creature in prefer- 

23 



354 AGRICULTURE AND THE HOESE. 

ence to the 'borak,' 'Thou hast chosen thy glory and 
the glory of thy sons : while they exist, my blessing 
shall be with them, because I have not created any 
thing that can be more dear to me than man and 
the horse.' This may be all very well, sir, for an Arab, 
but not for a descendant of the Pilgrims ; not for a man 
who believes in a republic of humanity and religion 
and letters. To the warrior and the usurper and the 
nomad I resign the horse, with all his thunders, and 
his ' Ila, ha's ! ' and his wild and mysterious spirit. I 
suppose we must endure him ; but I protest against 
him. I have no doubt he will be present at our 
exhibition in full force. I have no doubt, that, 
when he gets there, he will parade himself up and 
down before the multitude, and swell out beneath 
their empty plaudits, and persuade himself that he 
is really held in higher esteem than those more sub- 
stantial and useful animals, without which man would 
starve and perish. I have witnessed just such vanity 
as this, sir, in another sphere; and I know how, for 
a season, it will flourish. I submit, therefore, ay, 
more than that, I rejoice, that while the calm and 
substantial and solid and real in the animal kingdom 
are provided for those of us who look beneath the 
surface, and estimate all things at their true value, 
the fleeting and flashy splendors of the passing cloud 
are bestowed upon the fickle and impressible and 
volatile. Let us have the horse, then, if we must; 
and let him serve to attract the crowd for the pecuniary 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 355 

benefit of ourselves who are engaged in this great 
work. As an instrument in the hands of Providence, 
which 'maketh even the wrath of man to praise him,' I 
accept the evil. But, for myself, I shall devote my best 
faculties to the development of the sturdier and more 
reliable branches of our business, — to those dumb 
friends of ours who neither startle us by their eccentric 
impulses, nor betray us by their innate follies, nor drag 
us to destruction by their uncontrolled and uncontrolla- 
ble ambition, fatal alike to friend and foe, but who nour- 
ish us from the cradle to the grave, who are associated 
with our most peaceful hours, who disturb not our 
mental and moral repose, who neither flatter our vanity 
nor inflate our desires, whose massive and imposing 
usefulness will always be remembered by the hungry 
and the thirsty, whose simple and insensible stolidity 
will be valued above more glittering qualities, and 
whose immortal torpor will endure 

' When victors' wreaths and monarchs' gems 
Shall blend in common dust.' 

"Mr. Chairman, I am but a common farmer. It is 
true, a portion of my time is devoted to the pul)lic 
service, to the advantage of the State, I trust, as well 
as of myself But I am a farmer, believing in the 
good old ways of the fathers, whose exhausted farms 
we of this generation inherit. I believe in that mode 
of farming, as I do in that mode of railroading, which 
will give the largest returns with the least labor, the 



356 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

simplest processes, and the smallest risks. I suppose 
I may be called conservative; and I must confess I 
dislike every thing which is capable of running away. 
I acquiesce in a gale of wind; but I dislike it. So 
I acquiesce in the horse; but I don't like him. I 
have said more than I meant to say when I com- 
menced ; perhaps more than I ought to have said. 
But public service, you know, Mr. Chairman, tends 
to develop the powers of expression, and to enlarge 
those intellectual faculties without which this world 
would indeed be but a ' fleeting show.' I beg pardon 
of the gentlemen present for my extended remarks ; 
but I feel that I have but half discharged my duty, 
and have said less than half of what I desired to say. 
I hope I have not injured the horse, or discouraged 
the society. My disposition is ' to hold to the one, 
and despise the other.' I shall acquiesce, however; 
and I trust and pray that our Troy (excuse the clas- 
sical allusion) may not fall as fell the ancient city, 
when that animal which I dread so much passed 
through its ill-starred gates." 

Mr. Jones sat down somewhat flushed, a little per- 
plexed, and with an expression of mingled self-approval, 
defiance, and injured innocence, which was not pleasant 
to such a healthy assembly as he had just addressed. 
Everybody was silent. They had no idea Mr, Jones 
was so eloquent a gentleman : they had forgotten his 
"Dublic service." They did not agree with him; but 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HOESE. 357 

tliey did not know exactly wliat to say. It was a 
new view of tlie horse question. And tliey were some- 
what stunned by the thought that they ought to return 
to the days when sheep and oxen and asses occupied 
the largest attention; when the merits of cows went 
unrecorded, the bull was generally ignored, swine were 
forbidden, and the horse was consigned to a vain and 
wicked world for the gratification of vanity and wick- 
edness alone. It is doubtful whether any reply would 
have been made to Mr. Jones, except a mild expos- 
tulation from the Chair, and a murmur in one corner 
of the room about "a white mare," and "my little girl's 
pony," which had a very warm and tender tone in it, 
had not Mr. John Osgood been present, and felt moved 
to take up the matter where Mr. Jones laid it down. 

Mr. Osgood was a fine specimen of a New-England 
farmer. His ancestors had been landholders for gene- 
rations back. They were men of influence too. One 
of them was the first postmaster-general under Wash- 
ington ; another had held high position in one of the 
oldest and strongest towns in Massachusetts ; another 
had filled to overflowing one of the most powerful of 
the old New-England pulpits ; another was the trusted 
friend of the first great chief justice of Massachusetts ; 
and another was a great farmer, owned broad lands, 
and was famous for his flocks and herds and crops, 
as well as for his stables. Mr. Osgood himself, it was 
said, started from the smallest possible beginning. His 
only patrimony was the inheritance of blood to which 



358 AGEICULTUEE AND THE HORSE. • 

I have alluded, a thoroughly good academical educa- 
tion, a stalwart frame, a sound mind in a sound body, 
and a fresh and vigorous spirit, which led him along 
the agricultural path of his ancestors, rather than along 
their commercial or political or legal or theological 
highways. Why his father was poor, belonging as he did 
to such a thrifty race, nobody seemed to know. There 
will be such in every family. He owned a farm some- 
where, — an unrecorded farm, which no committee on 
farms had ever visited, and which had faded and faded 
under the touch of negligent cultivation, until every 
thing about it — people, buildings, animals, and crops 
— had a languid and sickly air. This farm Mr. Osgood 
left in early life ; and we are told that he left it in early 
spring, on foot, driving his few sheep and a cow or two 
before him over the deep and heavy roads of that season, 
travelling with less fatigue than his animals, and stop- 
ping at last for his future home in one of the remote, 
verdant valleys of Vermont. In this home he had 
prospered. By the exercise of good judgment in the 
breeding of his flocks, and by the application of rules 
which keen observation taught him, in the absence 'of 
scientific laws, he improved the quality of his sheep, 
until they became the standard, and gave him a reputa- 
tion with the Bakewells and Collings of the Old World. 
His cattle ranked with the best ; and, in his mind, the 
best were models of symmetry, thrift, and quality. The 
highest .type of the American horse could be found on 
his firm, — an animal as patient as he was courageous, 



AGEICUTLTURE AND THE HORSE. 359 

as enduring as he was fleet, as useful as he Tvas orna- 
mental, strong at the plough and untiring on the road, 
vigorous, hardy, and cheerful, an honor to his race, and 
a credit to his owner. Mr. Oss^ood's acres and his 
household increased together. His family smiled all 
around him within doors, and his farm smiled all around 
him without. His wife — a comely, industrious, intelli- 
gent, sweet-voiced woman ; such a wife as can only be 
developed under the sunlight of a manly and kind and 
considerate and generous husband ; such a wife as 
only such a husband can have in all her attributes, the 
mother of many sons and daughters — kept his house- 
hold in neatness and good order, and cherished within 
that home all the virtues and economies which make 
home sweet and dignified. He had no political am- 
bition, had never been engaged in "public service," 
had no " honorable " prefixed to his name ; but he went 
to church, sent his children to the best schools, paid 
his taxes without complaining, and had offered up one 
of the best and bravest of his boys on the altar of his 
country, — a far-off, unknown grave holding the sacred 
ashes, while the father and mother carried calmly and 
patiently the great sorrow in their hearts. 

When Mr. Jones had seated himself, after his star- 
tling address, Mr. Osgood, who, having been prosperous 
himself, felt moved to tell others how it was done, and 
had, for this reason, joined the society, looked about 
upon the little assembly, hoping that some one else 
might say what he himself felt constrained to utter upon 



860 AGRICULTURE AZ^D THE HORSE. 

the subject before tliem. But no one moved ; and at last 
he ai'ose, and brought his solid and healthy form, and 
manly countenance, and rich, deep voice, with which 
he had been wont to inspire with their utmost strength 
his laboring animals, to bear upon what was to him a 
familiar and favorite topic. He spoke substantially as 
follows : — 

MR. JOHN Osgood's speech. 

{Revised and icritten out hy the Chairman.') 

Mr. Cliairman., — I did not suppose, when I entered 
this room, that we should be called upon to express 
our opinions on any matter touching the welfare of the 
Agricultural Society just now formed, or upon any 
special object connected with that society. I came 
here to rest and chat, and look around, and become 
intimate with my associates. I never like to unite with 
any man in a common enterprise until I know him ; 
and I never can know a man until we have both laid 
aside the restraint of business, and sat down in our 
moral and intellectual shirt-sleeves to see and be seen, 
to hear and be heard, just as we are. If there is a mean 
or a soft spot in a' man, you may be sure it will come 
out when he has nothing special to do, and nothing 
special to say, and no reason to be on his guard. If you 
want to find out whether a horse is unsound, let him 
alone. 

But we have gone beyond the pleasure and the ob- 
servation of private intercourse, and have been led by 



AGEICULTURE AND THE HOESE. 861 

my new friend here into a public discussion. He lias 
given us his opinion of the horse, — a novel opinion to 
me ; although I think I can now see that he has 
expressed fears and dislikes and misunderstandings 
which have been felt and entertained by many whom 
I have known, and who were not honest enough to 
utter them. Be that as it may, I think a great deal 
better of a horse than Mr. Jones does ; and I Avill give 
him and you the reasons. To my mind, then, Mr. 
Chairman, the relations which exist between man and 
the horse are of such an intimate and significant char- 
acter, that they cannot be destroyed or violated without 
producing an effect deeper than that produced by the 
simple loss of property. Somehow the horse has man^ 
aged to connect himself with so much that is interest- 
ing and valuable in life, that we cannot abuse or insult 
him without wounding our self-respect ; we cannot 
destroy him without serious loss. He occupies a 
strange and important place in our history. In great 
military expeditions he has always performed an im- 
portant part. Old warriors used him. Old scholars 
wrote about him. Although my friend finds more 
ecclesiastical authority for respecting the ox and the 
ass, I would remind him that Jacob commenced early 
trading corn for horses with the Egyptians, and that 
a long array of chariots and horses followed this 
patriarch in funeral-procession. He was an Egyptian 
animal at a time when Egyptian civilization outshone 
all others ; and I am of opinion, with all due defer- 



362 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

ence to those wlio differ from me, that he has found 
his most congenial companions where cultivation and 
refinement have prevailed, from the days of Pha- 
raoh until now. As the arts of life advance, how 
he goes with them ! I find him in Arabia, the ally 
and protector and companion of man, his best posses- 
sion there. I find him immortalized in the finest 
marbles of ancient Greece and Rome. I find his name 
connected with great human exploits. I find pages in 
history dedicated to the record of his wonderful deeds 
on the turf and the road, at labor, in the chase, and on 
the field of battle. Kings have devoted the royal 
treasury to his increase, improvement, and comfort ; 
and ambitious and enthusiastic agriculturists have ap- 
plied themselves unsparingly to his introduction into 
the best regions and systems of farming. Why, what a 
flood of charming associations and memories rushes 
around us as we recall the position which the horse 
has held for almost all time ! William the Conqueror 
and his Norman horses. King John and his Flemish 
stallions, the admiring crowds that gathered round the 
Barley and the Godolphin Arabian, the enthusiastic 
admirers of Sir Archy and Sir Charles, of Lexington 
and Boston, of old Eclipse, the studs of Washington, 
the thorough-breds of Jefferson, — it is not worth while 
to tell me that there is nothing m-ore in all this than the 
simple ownership of so many merchantable animals, to 
be valued by weight in the market. In great events 
of joy and sorrow, in crises and revolutions, the horse 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 363 

someliow finds his place, standing next to man, the 
partner of his fortunes and his fate, and performing an 
important part in all the drama. I have been so struck 
with the place assigned the horse in all the stirring in- 
cidents of chivalrous personal history, that I remember 
always the touching lines, which, in the Introduction to 
the Betrothed, tell the vision which descended on the 
" Noble Maringer : " — 

*' Thy tower another banner knew, thy steed another rein ; 
And stoop them to another's will thy gallant vassal train ; 
And she, the lady of thy love, so faithful once and fair, 
This night, without thy father's hall, she weds Marstettin's heir." 

Towers, horse, vassals, and lady-love, all join to make 
this significant picture. Tell me what other animal 
could perform his part there. But not in deeds of 
war and chivalry alone has the horse endeared himself 
to man. I have said he seems to belong by right to the 
highest civilization, and to find there his most favoring 
and congenial home. Not, however, to this sphere alone 
is his genius confined. Obedient to surrounding cir- 
cumstances as no other animal seems capable of being, 
his frame and temperament alike conform to the neces- 
sities which he meets. The pride of the race-course, to 
which he is led often when he is but two years old, 
prematurely developed by protection and care into all 
the nerve and vigor of mature life, restless, impatient, 
and beautiful, he finds an elephantine, stolid, patient 
brother leaving the pastures of Holland and the Clyde 



364 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

for the weary toil of the brewery and the coal-yard; 
he finds a hardy, diminutive, busy, cool, and sagacious 
member of his family browsing on the moss and ferns 
of the Orkneys ; he hails from the desert the lithe and 
sinewy form of a more immediate relative; he looks 
on with amazement as his self-poised American cousin 
whirls along the road Avith that tremendous stride 
which has been developed by the wants of a free and 
driving people, each one of whom is bound to reach 
his destination first ; and he is amazed to find a rough 
and wiry specimen of his race scouring the plains in 
all the vigor of savage life. Preserving his horse char- 
acteristics under all circumstances, and in whatever 
form he may appear, he gradually adapts himself to 
soil and climate with a readiness unknown to any other , 
animal but man. And more than this : on the battle- 
field he is a Avar-horse ; on the race-course he is a deer ; 
on the farm he is a drudge ; on the road he is a locomo- 
tive ; at the civic procession he is as airy as his rider ; 
as a hack he is sagacious in the use of his forces ; at 
the stage-coach he is "flying all abroad;" at the pri- 
vate carriage he is as proud and disdainful as the 
petted beauty who sits behind him ; at the funeral he 
is as melancholy as the mourners. 

Now, sir, do you wonder that I admire an animal 
whose status and genius I have just described as I 
understand them ? I do not object to other animals : 
I respect them as I do the trees planted by my fathers, 
and the mill-ponds which they dammed " for the public 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 365 

good." But I study my horse ; and my horse studies 
me. If I am a coward, he is one ; if. I am lazy, he is 
lazy ; if I am impatient, he is impetuous ; if I am 
lost in thought, how dreamily he pursues his way! 
But a cat" is a cat the world over, let the mistress be 
what she may. A dog is a dog, in season and out of 
season, whether he follows beggar or prince. A sheep 
is a sheep ; and no circumstances can modify its sheep- 
ishness. A cow is a cow, no matter where the pasture, 
or who the milkmaid, — the sam^ senseless, board- 
faced, "panicky" beast, the same indolent machine, 
the same placid lump of awkwardness, the same 
matter-of-fact agricultural fixture. Hence I have 
always imagined' I could read in the conduct of the 
horse a certain measure of the character of the owner, 
as you can see the man in the empty hat which sits 
upon the table, you cannot tell why. When I was 
a boy, I used to estimate the condition of my neigh- 
bors by the looks and conduct of their horses. When 
I saw a venerable pair seated in a rickety wagon 
drawn by a low-headed, CAve-necked, ring-boned mare, 
by jerks along the road, I always pictured to myself the 
establishment from which that venerable pair came out. 
When I saw the village doctor jogging about with 
rusty harness, and dilapidated vehicle, and melancholy 
horse, I drew my own inference, and instituted a com- 
parison at once between this man and his rival, who, 
without ostentation, kept his equipage in order, and 
drove well the horse which he had selected well. Upon 



866 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

the box of a market- wagon, drawn by a well-matclied, 
even-working pair of solid bays, I always found seated 
a contented and thriving farmer. The minister of my 
native town, a large-hearted, kindly, sympathizing 
pastor, and a sensible preacher of the gospel of Christ, 
always di'ove an elegant horse, and drove him well ; so 
that in his two-wheeled chaise at least, or when 
mounted erect in the saddle, the people respected him, 
and did not forget their respect when he had dis- 
mounted. And never shall I forget the chagrin and 
dismay, and " dismal doubts," which filled my mind as 
I found myself and my beloved Jerusha, now my wife, 
seated in her father's ancient chaise, behind her father's 
ancient steed (both borrowed by me for the occasion), 
and subjected to the sly jibes of the smart young 
people who drove their smart equipages on that 
memorable drive to the seaside. I pitied Jerusha; 
and Jerusha pitied me. But, fortunately for us both, 
that horse Avas the only fault she or her family had. 
Excuse me, sir : but I cannot forget those days ; and, 
when I am away from my wife and children, they will 
constantly be uppermost in my mind. 

Now, sir, when I commenced farming, I made up my 
mind that my horses should be as good as my sheep 
and cattle ; that none of them should be surpassed ; 
and that I would find out a way to breed and rear my 
own, instead of going into the market to purchase the 
fruits of other people's industry.' I knew very well 
what I wanted. I did not want a running-horse, nor 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 367 

a saddle-horse, nor a cart-horse, I wanted a horse of 
all work, — a horse weighing a little more than ten 
hundred pounds, in good road condition ; fifteen hands 
and one inch high (for I had found that this height 
and weight usually go together) ; with a head not too 
fine, wide between the eyes, and high above them ; 
with a good-sized, steady, erect, and lively ear ; with 
every bony process sharp and prominent, — even the 
processes of the first cervical vertebra behind the ears ; 
with a calm and well-set eye, and lips which indicate 
determination rather than delicacy ; a Websterian head, 
with a neck well muscled, well arched, strong, and elas- 
tic ; with active motion, and a throttle loose and open ; 
with withers not sharp and thin, but solid and strong ; 
with a shoulder set loosely on, broad and deep at the 
base ; with a strong arm, sinewy leg, short canon- 
bone, firm and not too long or elastic a pastern, and a 
firm foot ; with a deep chest, without a prominent and 
bulging breast-bone ; with a round barrel, ribbed well 
back towards the hips, but not so far back as to inter- 
fere with the action of the hind-quarters ; with a short 
back, and a slight elevation of the rump just behind 
the coupling ; with a long and strong quarter well 
muscled inside and outside ; with a hind-leg so set on 
that the action shall be free and open, and with the 
fore-leg so set on that the toes shall not turn out for 
fear of brushing the knees at speed, and that they shall 
not turn in too much for fear of paddling. I wanted 
a good strong bay color with black points, and a tern- 



368 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

perament calm, collected, fearless, defiant, and a brain 
quick to learn, and strong to remember. This was the 
horse I wanted ; and I felt sure I could breed him. 

This horse, and the way in which he is to be obtained, 
has been so well described elsewhere (and I think, Mr. 
Chairman, you will recognize the description), that I 
venture to quote the passage from memory ; and I have 
read it so often, that I think my memory cannot fliil to 
recall it : — 

"The American trotting-horse " — and this means the 
American horse of all work — "is an animal after his 
own kind, and, I venture to say, unequalled by any 
other horse on the face of the earth in all that makes 
such an animal truly valuable in every kind of service. 
It takes true equine genius to make a trotting-horse. 
His mechanism must be as well balanced and sym- 
metrical as a locomotive. Propelled as he is by one 
quarter at a time, his progress is the result of nerve and 
strength and decision, unknown and utterly ignored in 
that leaping, bounding motion, where one end follows 
the other, as is the case with the running-horse of 
the English turf He must be solid in his foot, 
strong in his limb, firm in his back, free and easy 
in his stride, and, above all things, calm and collected 
amidst all the trials of the track and the road, 
which tend to throw him off his balance, and reduce 
him to the level of the hare and the fox and the 
greyhound, and the English race-horse, running helter- 
skelter in a natural manner, without the exercise of 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 369 

any faculties except those with which Nature endows 
the coward when he flies from danger or conflict. 
The American trotter requires bones and muscles and 
brains ; and, when he stands high ' on the Hst, he has 
them all. For compactness of form and ease of motion, 
for strength, endurance, and sagacity, he is unequalled. 
" The beautiful description which Yirgil gives of a 
good steed in his day is just as true in our own : — 

* Choose with like care the courser's generous breed, 

And from his birth prepare the parent steed. 

His color mark : select the glossy bay ; 

And to the white or dun prefer the gray. 

As yet a colt, he stalks with lofty pace, 

And balances his limbs with flexile grace ; 

First leads the way, the threatening torrent braves, 
• And dares the unknown arch that spans the waves. 

Light on his airy crest his slender head ; 

His body short ; his loins luxuriant spread ; 

Muscle on muscle knots his brawny breast. 

No fear alarms him, nor vain shouts molest. 

O'er his right shoulder, floating full and fair, 

Sweeps his thick mane, and spreads its pomp of hair : 

Swift works his double spine ; and earth around 

Rings to his solid hoof that wears the ground.' 

Now, we have this animal as the natural product of 
our farms. I know not how it has come to pass, but 
it is a fact, that the farmer's horse in New England is 
peculiar to himself, and is, moreover, peculiarly an 
American institution. He may be descended from the 
thorough-bred, for any thing that can be said to the 
contrary ; but, the farther he is removed from that 

24 



370 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

rather equivocal class of animals, the more truly does 
he become a trotter. I look upon him as one result of 
•that social and civil equality, which, in our own country, 
makes one man's time as valuable as another's, and 
which authorizes the farmer's boy to take the road from 
the squire, or the parson, or the doctor, whenever his 
colt can do it. Every man in this country who can keep 
a horse wants a good one ; and, when he has got him, he 
wants to avail himself of his horse's powers to make 
the distance between the mill or the meeting-house and 
his own home as short as possible. We all drive on 
the road; and this, combined, undoubtedly, with cer- 
tain fortunate aptitudes of climate and soil, has given 
New England her valuable races of trotters. 

"Why should we go abroad, then, with the expecta- 
tion of improving what we now have? While we 
have our Messengers and Black Hawks, and other 
families of Morgans, so diverse in size and shape, so 
well fitted by form and temper to every labor, and yet 
possessing a kind of prevailing uniformity, expressed 
by the phrase ' a horse of all work,' can we hope to 
derive any benefit from a resort to those specific breeds 
of horses which in England are devoted each to its 
own specialty ? There is no necessity, for instance, 
for importing a Suffolk Punch ; for half a day's search 
would undoubtedly provide you with just such an ani- 
mal raised on your own soil. We need not import 
hunters ; for we have no need of any such horse 
among us. The Cleveland Bay, valuable as a carriage- 



AGEICULTUEE AND THE HORSE. 371 

horse, could hardly expect to improve the stylish 
breeds found South and West, and distinguished more 
for style than any thing else. And when we consider 
that it is only after we have reached many removes from 
the thorough-bred that we have arrived at good trot- 
ters ; when we remember that neither in shoulder, nor 
leg, nor quarter, nor general mechanism, is there any 
analogy between the thorough-bred as raised in Eng- 
land and the trotter as raised in our own country, — we 
may well ask ourselves. What advantage is to be de- 
rived from the introduction of such animals among us ? 

" It is because we have already what we want in the 
way of horses that I am opposed to the introduction 
of foreign breeds among them. Our customs and 
modes of life, together with, perhaps, a fortunate outset 
and certain natural advantages, have produced for us 
better horses than we can import. If this were the case 
with regard to our cattle, I should entertain the same 
opinion with regard to them ; but it is not so. We 
have, partly by accident and partly by design, been 
engaged for years in developing a race of trotting- 
horses; but we have not developed races of cattle 
pecuharly adapted to the dairy or the shambles. That 
work is still before us ; and we can only accomplish it 
by obtaining such animals, wherever they can be found, 
until we have established the breeds for ourselves." 

Perhaps, Mr. Chairman, I might slightly qualify some 
of the opinions I have just quoted ; but they are, in 
the main, correct. I recognize the value of those old 



372 AGKICULTUEE AND THE HOESE. 

progenitors who brought into our country, many years 
ago, the bone and muscle and nerve and wind and 
capacity of the Enghsh thorough-bred of that day. 
I am mindful of the old Messenger, and of what he 
and his sons have done ; and I cannot, moreover, 
forget that his fame as the ancestor of trotters was 
established, not in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where 
he stood two seasons after his arrival in this country 
(in 1780), but on Long Island, and various other points 
in New-York State, whence his stock was distributed 
throughout the best breeding-sections of New England. 
As the sire of Miller's Damsel (the dam of American 
Eclipse) and of Sir Harry, out of mares of undoubted 
pedigree, he won a fine reputation ; but it was as the 
sire of Mambrino — whose dam had no pedigree, ex- 
cept that she was " by Imp. Sour-krout," and of Ham- 
bletonian, whose dam was by Messenger himself, but 
whose grand-dam was " unknown " — that he won his 
distinction as the ancestor of some of the most re- 
markable trotters known on earth. And how, as gen- 
erations went on, and that " unknown " blood worked 
in, did the speed of this family increase ! From Mam- 
brino sprang Abdallah, dam Amazonia (by Messenger, 
dam unknowii)^ and Mambrino Paymaster, dam un- 
known. From Abdallah, with his unknown grand- 
mother, we have, two or three generations removed, 
each with its unknown dam, Rysdyk's Hambleto- 
nian, with his famous sons Dexter, George Wilkes, and 
Mountain Boy. From Mambrino Paymaster, with his 



AGRICULTTJKE AND THE HORSE. 373 

unknoiun dam, we have Mambrino Chief, dam also 
unknoiun^ though said to be of Messenger descent; 
and from Mambrino Chief we have Lady Thorn and 
Mambrino Pilot and Mambrino Patchen and Ericsson 
and Brignoli and Ashland, in whose pedigrees will be 
found as many unknown dams as there are sires and 
grandsires. And as I trace the blood of the old horse 
into Maine and Vermont, where all the mares were 
"unknown," what a tribe of our earliest and best 
trotters rises before my vision ! — Ripton, the gallant 
"white-legged pony," the favorite of Hiram Wood- 
ruff, the resolute and plucky and triumphant, rival- 
ling Dutchman as a three-miler, and defeating Lady 
Suffolk, an eastern horse, undoubtedly of Messenger 
and Morgan blood ; and Daniel D. Tompkins, a 
wonderful little horse ; and Gen. Taylor, " a very 
famous trotter and sticker ; " and Independence, the 
delight of my boyhood ; and Fanny PuUen, the dam 
of Trustee, the twenty-miler ; and Shepherd Knapp ; 
and Mac ; and True John ; and Green-Mountain Maid ; 
and Gray Vermont ; and Sontag ; and Ethan Allen 
(dam, a Messenger mare), the best balanced horse 
ever seen on an American track, the evenest-gaited 
horse from the walk onward ever bred, and the most 
striking illustration of the enervating influence of 
high feed and rapid work in early life ever known in 
horse annals. These horses, far removed from the 
original thorough-bred, and fortunate in the strain of 
blood which they do possess, springing from families 



374 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

in which an admixture of various races is undoubt- 
edly to be found ; members of a list honorable and 
illustrious, commencing with Topgallant and Whale- 
bone and Dutchman and Confidence and Wash- 
ington and Rattler and Lady Suffolk, with their 
"unknown" strains, and ending in our day with Flora 
Temple and Goldsmith's Maid and Dexter and Ameri- 
can Girl and Lucy, and Bonner's Pocahontas (the 
Bates mare), the queen of mares, with their great 
records and their absolute defiance of time and space, 
— these horses, I say, illustrate what I mean by that 
power of the American trotter which is to be obtained 
by removal, step by step, from the form and gait of the 
thorough-bred. 

But not everywhere does this removal accomplish 
the object which the breeder of horses in America has 
in view. Old Messenger did not leave behind him the 
same fruits in Pennsylvania that he did in New York. 
He met nowhere in that more southern region the 
blood which it was necessary to mingle with his own 
in order to produce the genuine American horse. 
Who can tell that his fame as the ancestor of a long 
line of trotters is not due as much to the fortunate 
locality in which his lot was cast as to his own intrin- 
sic merit? Who can tell that Diomed, and his two 
famous sons Sir Henry and Duroc, would not have 
been rivals of Messenger, and his more famous sons 
Mambrino and Hambletonian, had the two families 
exchanged residences, and Messenger had gone down 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 375 

into Kentucky among tlie thoroiigh-breds of that State, 
while Duroc had cast his lot among the "unknown" 
mares of the North ? 

However this may be, sir, we have got the American 
horse all along the northern line, -from Eastport to 
Detroit, ay, still fxrther west, — a fortunate combination 
of various bloods, invigorated by the sharp air of our 
northern hills, refreshed by our cold northern streams, 
fed into hard bone and vigorous muscle by our short 
and sweet northern pastures, and capable of carrying 
his sturdy forces, and implanting them, for a generation 
or two at least, among the heavier bones and softer 
muscles of more luxuriant valleys, milder skies, and 
warmer springs. That he gets somewhat of his power 
from his native soil and climate, there can be no doubt. 
But how has he converted that stilted gait of the thor- 
ough-bred into the swinging stride and powerful knee- 
action of the trotter? What has changed the narrow 
and confined shoulder of the thorough-bred — with its 
short humerus attached, and the necessarily advanced 
position of the fore-leg so near the point of the shoulder 
that a line falling thence touches the toe — to loose 
shoulder-blade and long humerus, — long from the elbow 
to the point of the shoulder, so that a line falling from 
this point touches the ground far in front of the foot, 
— and to that massive and muscular base which wins 
for the good trotter that common exclamation, "What a 
rousing shoulder ! " ? What has cut down those sharp, 
thin withers of the thorough-bred, and filled in the 



376 AGRICULTUEE AND THE HORSE. 

space above the top of the shoulder-blades with such a 
mass of strong muscle? What has strengthened that 
lower jaw, so that the horse and his driver may be 
made one through the bit and rein? What has 
dropped the points of the hips below the level of the 
rump, where they stand usually in the thorough-bred ? 
What has judiciously cooled the ardor, and increased 
the patience, and enlarged the sagacity, of the thorough- 
bred ? What has incased the untiring channels of true 
blood in a new frame, of proportions hitherto unknown 
to them, until they were subjected to the influence 
of American companions, and American wants, and 
American institutions? Probably no single cause, but 
many combined. The habit of driving, to which I 
have alluded, has undoubtedly done much towards 
bringing about this result. But this alone is not suffi- 
cient. And I am constrained to believe that we owe 
much of the shape and stride which distinguish our best 
trotters to a larger or smaller infusion of Canadian 
blood, derived from the early importations of Norman 
horses mto Canada, which have been improved in size 
and quality by the soil and climate of their new home. 
In very many of our good trotters this is manifest. 
All the descendants of Henry Clay (whose sire was 
Long-Island Black Hawk, and whose dam was " Surry, 
a mare of great speed from Canada"), especially the 
get of Cassius M. Clay (a son of Henry), have the thick 
jowl, and heavy ear, and round muscle, and thick 
sinews, and coarse-grained fool, of the family from which 



AGRICULTURE AisD THE HORSE. 377 

their mother sprang. How the Morrills show it, even 
when brought clown to Young Morrill, and, through 
him and that wonderful Steve French mare, to the pair 
of princes, duo geminos fidmina belli, Fearnaught and 
Fearnanght, juu. ! How apparent it was in Hiram Drew ! 
Sometimes there is enough of it to make them faint, 
and sometimes just enough to send them along. So 
Pilot, " a genuine Cannuck," came over into the States, 
and stiiTed up the thorough-blood to the extent of 
Pilot, jun., and his rousing son John Morgan, and rush- 
ing daughter, the dam of Mambrino Pilot. So, from a 
Canadian mare, Rysdyk's Hambletonian got Bruno, and 
the Brother of Bruno, and their full sister Brunette. 
So "a small pacing Cannuck" brought forth "Gift, a 
chestnut gelding by Mambrino Pilot," who, "at four 
years old, received five forfeits, and challenged, through 
'The Spirit of the Times,' any colt of the same age to 
trot to harness or to wagon for a thousand dollars, with- 
out being accepted." So Old Morrill received and 
transmitted that tremendous stride, which his family 
will never lose until they are swamped by the daisy-cut- 
ters of Virginia or the English turf So that wonderful 
little incarnation of equine genius, Justin Morgan, son 
of True Briton and the Great Unknown Mare, inspired 
and elevated the cold horse-blood of Vermont (undoubt- 
edly largely filled with a French infusion at the time of 
his arrival there) up to the courage and endurance and 
style of Sherman and Green Mountain, and at last to 
the speed of Black Hawk,' and Ethan Allen, and Lady 



378 AGRIOULTIJKE AND THE HOESE. 

Sutton, cand Gen. Knox, and Lancet, and Gen. Lyon, 
and Honest Allen, and Gilbreth Knox. And so the 
thousands of medium-sized, hardy, enduring horses in 
the service of the family, in the stage-coach, in livery, 
on the track, and on the road, go whirling on with their _ 
Norman stride and their thorough-bred wind and 
courage. , 

Hence, then, our American horse ; and, taking him 
as he is, I have an idea that we can so direct his breed- 
ing as to preserve to ourselves all his best qualities, and 
even enlarge and improve them. I am aware that the 
breeding of horses is a difficult and doubtful business. 
The horse holds a position in the scale of being which 
makes him peculiarly sensitive, from his embryo life 
upward, to all surrounding influences. The fact that 
but a few generations are necessary to change almost 
his entire structure, in order to conform to a change of 
climate and soil, is sufficient evidence of the ease with 
which his race may be modified by the accidents about 
him, or by the designs of his master. Suffolk pigs, 
short-horned cattle, terrier pups, can be bred to order. 
Not so the horse. He is a bundle of forces moral 
and physical, either class of which may be distorted by 
influences almost beyond our control. A calm, coura- 
geous, docile, intelligent mare, bearing a colt sired by 
a stallion equally well balanced with herself, may be 
subjected to sudden fright ; she may fall into bad 
hands, and be lashed to madness while pregnant ; she 
may have her attention fixed on some ignoble com23an- 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 379 

ion ; and the character of her offspring be so different 
from her own or that of its sire, that she is ashamed of 
it (or ought to be), and her owner despises it. Every 
man knoAvs that some families of horses are easily 
broken to harness, in fact have a natural gift in that 
direction, and take kindly to the strap and the shaft ; 
and that other families are rebellious and violent, and 
almost untamable. That this quality is inherited, there 
can be no doubt ; and, if you do doubt it, take the Eng- 
lish thorough-bred, with his inheritance of stormy pas- 
sions and impetuosity on the turf, and his days of idle- 
ness in which his vices grow apace, and compare him, 
on all points of submission, docility, and usefulness, 
with the American horse of all work, the heir of every 
accomplishment which can make a horse useful at the 
plough or the cart, or on the track or road. Now, 
these qualities may easily be transmitted, and they may 
easily be destroyed. A rough master may upset all 
the virtues of generations, and unexpectedly find him- 
self the owner of a colt inspired with all the wildness 
and savagery of its remote ancestors. It is a good deal 
to ask, I know ; but, if a man means to raise up a good- 
tempered and civilized family of horses, he must be 
good-tempered and civilized himself. 

And then the unexpected physical variations : who 
can account for them ? You can generally be pretty 
sure of breeding a pig which will weigh a given num- 
ber of pounds at a given age. You can generally breed 
a short-horned cow with certain specified lines, a de- 



380 AGKICULTURE AND THE HOESE. 

sired color, a wished-for aptitude to fatten, and any 
number of such inglorious qualities which make up a 
good beef producer ; but to breed that delicate organi- 
zation which makes a good milch-cow, and that nice 
adjustment of nerves and veins, and bones and muscles, 
which makes a really valuable horse, is not so easy. 
E^en thorough-breds vary to a degree entirely unac- 
countable. The size varies, the color varies, the form 
varies, the power varies, in a family bred even from one 
sire and one dam. The success which has attended the 
efforts of the best breeders is so small as to be truly 
discouraging. The great English horse Eclipse, bred as 
he was to hundreds of the best mares of his time, got 
only three hundred and forty-four winners ; and half of 
these never got beyond a single race. Matchem, another 
great and victorious horse on the English turf, got but 
three hundred and fifty - four winners. And King 
Herod, the third king of the race-course and the stud, 
got only four hundred and ninety-seven winners, but 
few of which made any mark beyond their first effort. 
"What will the most enthusiastic friend of any trotting- 
stallion known within the last thirty years tell us of 
the trotting-capacity of his stock? Old Black Hawk 
stood for mares almost from the day when, a four-year- 
old colt, he trotted down from Dover, N.H,, and went 
star-gazing into William Brown's stable-yard at Haver- 
hill, to be purchased by this veteran landlord and 
horseman, in connection with his friend Thurston of 
Lowell, to the hour Avhen he died in the comfortable 



AGRICULTUKE AND THE HOESE. 381 

stable of David Hill of Bridport, Vt,, for wliom lie 
had earned a fortune ; and yet you can count his 
trotting sons and daughters on your fingers. So, too, 
of Ethan Allen, and Gen. Knox, and the Drew Horse, 
and the Eaton Horse, and Old Witherell, and Lambert, 
and Rysdyk's Hambletonian, and Young Morrill, and 
Fearnaught, and a host of others, known and unknown; 
while some unheard-of stallion has sent his single offer- 
ing to the track, "but that one a lion." 

Why, sir, I said, in the beginning, that I thought I 
could breed about the horse I wanted in size, shape, 
and temperament. I think so still ; and yet the expe- 
rience I have had is somewhat discouraging, and will 
hardly sustain my theory. I purchased many years 
ago an Abdallah mare, of good speed and bottom, 
fifteen hands and two inches high, weighing about ten 
hundred and fifty pounds, and of bay color with 
black points. She was a good mare, and evidently 
well bred. She had speed ; could trot in fifty almost 
any day in the week. I bred her five times to Trotting 
Childers, a son of Hill's Black Hawk, and out of Lady 
Forest, afterwards called Lady Maynard, — as speedy a 
mare as ever dashed down Boston Neck in the days 
when Hiram Woodruff used to send " the roan horse " 
whirling past every thing except the mare. My first 
colt was a shrewd, sagacious, but tempestuous little 
horse, fourteen hands and an inch high, with a rather 
light fore-leg, not a good foot, with the endurance of a 
locomotive, with the jauntiest gait in the world, as black 



382 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

as a coal, as big again moving as when he stood still, 
and with speed enough to send him round a mile-track 
in road condition in 2.38. He was as good a little horse 
as I ever saw ; and his name was Doncaster. My next 
colt was a mare, fifteen hands high, quiet and calm, 
and a little phlegmatic in her temperament ; with a 
fine head ; long and well-proportioned neck ; well-bal- 
anced shoulders and quarters; with an easy, stealing 
gait ; honest ; reliable ; somewhat timid ; who could trot 
in about three minutes ; not quite as large when moving 
as when standing still ; in color black, with white hind- 
feet. She was a most amiable and lovely mare ; and 
her name was Jemima. • My next colt was a delicate, 
nervous, incapable, fine-drawn, light-limbed mare, about 
fourteen hands two inches high, in color black, and 
in all her attributes thin. She never got so far with 
me as to have a name. My next colt was a solid, lazy, 
inactive chunk of a bay horse, as unattractive as possi- 
ble ; slow ; would not go without whipping, and, if 
you whipped him, would make for the nearest stone 
wall; had neither vigor nor speed, but possessed the 
same power of endurance as distinguishes an ox. He 
lives on a farm somewhere now ; and I am sure he 
enjoys its repose. He never had any name, so far as 
I know. My fifth and last colt was a horse ; and such 
a horse ! Why, Jim ! — ■' I own him now, an airy-gaited, 
elastic, vigorous bay, fifteen hands high ; weighs ten 
hundred and forty pounds ; with a head full of delicacy 
and strength ; with fire and prudence combined ; with a 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 383 

tail like a waterfall ; with a foot like a sledge, and a leg 
like a bundle of wires ; with a shoulder and quarter just 
fitted to the most perfect back and barrel ever seen ; 
as mild as the moonbeams when Jerusha drives him, 
and as stormy as the "vexed Boothes" when I take 
him in hand, and call on him; capable of seventy-five 
miles in a day in single harness without weariness to 
himself or his driver, and able to wear out any horse 
I ever hitched him with in double harness ; a dis- 
criminating horse, who knows me above everybody else, 
knows what I like and what I want, does it, and can 
trot any day in 2.40. His name, sir, is Jim, as I told 
you; and a rare horse he is. Now, that is one family, — 
three good ones, and two poor ones, no two in any 
respect alike (except in color), either in speed, or 
shape, or temperament, or size, or appearance. Neither 
physically nor morally did they resemble each other. 

I have had another family, sir, quite as remarkable 
as this. Many years ago I purchased a large white 
Messenger mare, raised in the State of Maine, — a 
mare of great courage, strength, and speed. She stood 
fifteen hands three inches high, and weighed, when in 
good condition, nearly eleven hundred. She was a 
great mare every way. She had had two colts by 
Ethan Allen when I bought her, — one a clumsy, heavy- 
gaited, dull brute, sixteen hands high, with a big head, 
a bad fore-leg, a curby hind-leg adorned with bog 
spavins ; the other a bay colt, analogous to his brother 
in every respect, except that his curbs were smaller, 



384 AGRICULTURE AJSTD THE HORSE. 

and his spavins larger. This mare I bred to Doncaster, 
the horse of my own breeding previously alluded 
to. The result was a gray mare, fourteen and a 
half hands high, a perfect bundle of well-balanced 
bone and muscle. Her intelligence is marvellous. 
She knows by sudden instinct what to do ; and, by as 
sudden an instinct, she does it. Her strength is like 
that of the little horse Justin Morgan. Her stride 
is equal to that of a sixteen-hand horse, and as even 
as machinery; while her step is as firm and rapid as 
a steam-driven hammer. I have driven many horses 
in my day, but not one equal to this mare, from her 
first movement, walking away from the stable, to her 
bursts of speed on the road, which are tremendous. 
She endears herself to everybody who rides behind her. 
Women grow cheerful under her influence ; young 
men are lost in admiration ; and many an old man, after 
feeling her invigorating power, has sent me word back 
from his retirement, that he must have that mare if 
I should ever part with her. She is not fine drawn 
in any respect; has not high, sharp withers, nor thin 
lips, nor small ears, nor a slim neck : but she has a 
luxuriance of every thing that can give power to a 
brilliant little mare, who knows that her life means 
cheerful business, and not dismal and idle play.. Her 
name is " The White Mare ; " and you may be sure she 
will never disgrace it. 

This mare I bred five seasons to a young stallion, also 
sired by Doncaster out of a long, low, strong, rapid 



AGKICULTURE AND THE HOKSB. 385 

eastern mare ; and a good young stallion lie was, 
named Blue Jacket. I felt very confident that I should, 
at any rate, secure uniformity from so close a connection 
as this ; and I also felt confident that I should get a 
great many valuable qualities from a sire and dam so 
well bred and so full of merit themselves. The first 
colt, now known as Sorrel Jim, is as good a little horse 
as one could desire, about fourteen hands high, of light 
sorrel color, with lighter mane and tail ; with a loose, 
open, strong gait ; great intelligence and courage ; and 
speed enough to beat almost every thing he meets on 
the road, even when handled by my young daughter, 
who now owns and drives him. He is a most attrac-' 
tive little horse. The next colt was a gray mare, not 
at all preposessing, and by no means worthy of her dis- 
tinguished ancestry. The next colt was a gray horse 
of about the same description ; and I began to despair. 
The next was a bay horse ; and a good bay horse he is. 
I have no fear of him. His head and neck and shoul- 
der and back and quarter and leg will carry him very 
fiir up the steep which leads to the temple of fame, 
or I am very much mistaken. He is not as brilliant as 
his dam ; but he has immense strength, a great, even 
gait, an abundance of calm determination, steady cour- 
age, and a personal pride which will not be trifled with. 
The last colt, and the fifth which the mare has had by 
Blue Jacket, is a mouse-colored filly, too young to tell 
even the first chapter of her story. 

Here I had a dam and sire closely related, bearing, in 

25 



386 AGEICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

their veins the blood of the Messenger, the Abdallah, 
the Bhack Hawk, Lady Forest, and the best of the 
Great Unknown ; but what a diverse family I had from 
them! And yet this is horse-breeding, whenever you 
leave the commonplace work of breeding slow and 
phlegmatic cart-horses, and advanbe into those regions 
where the highest attributes of the horse must be re- 
produced in order to secure that animal which can dis- 
tinguish himself on the track or road. And this seems 
to be Nature's law. The production of all the lower 
order of animals, or of all the lower grades of any race, 
however high it may be, is not easily driven out of the 
channels laid down for it by the. generally-recognized 
rule. A pound of beef or a pound of pork can be as 
easily produced as can a bushel of wheat or corn. Not 
so, however, the finer qualities to which the flesh is 
obedient, and which will triumph in spite of physical 
defect or deformity or weakness ; as the " gallant 
Gray " laid down his life in the " Trosachs' rugged 
jaws; " and as "the evergreen, live-oak, old Top-gallant, 
in his twenty-fourth year," and "spavined in both 
legs," rushed in and won three-mile races against the 
best horses of his day, and laughed at his ten-year-old 
companions, who, with their feeble spirits, were " stag- 
gering about, over-kneed, and twisted up, and knuckled 
behind," and were waiting only for the end of an 
ignoble career. Not only is it almost impossible to 
transmit this ethereal spirit, in its precise quality and 
quantity, from generation to generation, but it is 



AGRICULTTJBE AND THE HOKSE. 387 

equally impossible, while striving for this excellence, to 
preserve that physical uniformity which belongs to the 
more material and the grosser organizations. So Rosa 
Bonheur can paint a drove of Norman horses, and Her- 
ring a litter of pigs in a farm-yard, all of each group 
bearing an exact resemblance to each other, and none 
rising above the low level of masses of organized matter. 
But not so with the English thorough-bred, nor with 
the American trotter. They are not to be found in 
droves, or uniform groups, or litters. Upon their con- 
formations, a thousand influences, partly moral and 
partly physical, operate ; and they will not obey the 
law of physical uniformity so long as they strive for 
individual excellence. I might carry this thought into 
a higher sphere, sir; but I leave it for every thoughtful 
observer, who contemplates the variety of characters by 
which he is surrounded in his daily walk, to do this 
for himself I confine my discussion to horses. 

If, while we are strivius: to breed horses of a hiHi 
quality and great merit, we cannot get uniformity, you 
may ask, sir, " What can we get ? and what becomes of 
your early statement, that you felt sure you could breed 
the horse you wanted, according to a standard laid 
down by yourself ? " To this I answer, that I do not 
expect to succeed in every case, and that I am willing 
to bear my share of failures while striving for a rea- 
sonable amount of success. In the account I have 
given of two families of my horses, out of the many 
which I have bred, you will find that five out of the 



388 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

ten have been remarkable. Either one of this five,, 
different as they were from each other, would satisfy 
any man who wanted a horse to fill the place to which 
the selected one was adapted. While they were not 
all alike, they were all good, and reached the mark 
aimed at ; some rising far above it. Apply this expe- 
rience to a community engaged in breeding horses ; as- 
sure that community, that, with careful and ambitious 
breeding, they can be sure of having valuable horses in 
one half the cases around them, and that the other half 
will be at least remunerative, and you offer all the in- 
ducement that reasonable men ought to ask in any busi- 
ness in life. This point, then, I have reached; and, 
while I am not willing to state the prices I have 
received for the good horses I have bred and sold, I 
can only say, that had I lost the five poor ones, and 
received nothing for them, the receipts from such of 
my good ones as I have sold are sufficient to place my 
horses alongside of my best cattle and sheep on the 
score of profit alone. They have paid me well : and 
they ought ; for, in order to produce them, I have been 
obliged to learn wisdom from many failures of my own 
and my neighbors, to incur the expense of breeding 
from gift mares (the most expensive of all mares) 
against my judgment, and to devote my mind to the 
business in a way, which, in any sphere in life, is en- 
titled to success. Let no farmer doubt, then,, that he 
can breed a good horse, and do it profitably, if he will 
exercise judgment and skill, — not a bay horse always, 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 389 

nor a black one, nor a chestnut one, nor a gray one, nor 
"one of a pair," but a good one. And above all, when 
he has got his colt, let him learn to estimate him at his 
true value, neither clothing the unfortunate animal 
with merits which he really does not possess, nor dis- 
posing of him to some keen-eyed buyer, who, by dis- 
covering his powers, and realizing his promise, may 
reap the reward. 

I have read a good many books and essays, Mr. 
Chairman, on the subject of breeding. Some of them 
I found to be very useful, and some of them very use- 
less; and many of them discuss so profoundly questions 
already settled, that I am always reminded of Dr. 
Holmes's Katydid, who said 

" Such undisputed things in such a solemn way." 

But from my own flocks and herds I have learned a 
few rules, which, if always applied, will, I think, be ad- 
vantageous to our agricultural friends : at least, they 
have been to me. 

In selecting a horse or a mare from several of equal 
merit for breeding-purposes from two or more families 
also of equal merit, I choose that family which has the 
best ancestry. 

Never hope to get, from a sire which you do not 
like and a dam which you do not like, offspring which 
you do like. 

Do not try to breed out an unsoundness : you may 
not live long enough to do it. But you can sell in an 
instant, — "in the twinkling of an eye." 



390 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

Breed in-and-in as much as you like, if you have 
exactly what you want on both sides. I never knew 
a good family of cattle, or a good flock of sheep, to be 
reached in any other way. If you want a good family 
of animals of any description around you, begin right, 
and then stay at home. It does no good to wander all 
over creation, introducing experiments into your sta- 
bles, and confusion with the experiments. But remem- 
ber, that if you expect to reap the advantages of close 
breeding, and hope to perpetuate the good qualities 
which you already possess, you must feed well, and take 
good care. Starvation and improvement do not go 
together. This rule holds good with regard to cattle 
and sheep; and that it holds good, also, with regard 
to horses, those familiar with the families of Selim and 
Touchstone and Defence and Rubens will readily ac- 
knowledge. For myself, I turn to my White Mare 
and Blue Jacket, with their colts Sorrel Jim and Billy, 
as an encouragement to the breeders of trotters. How 
I should like to see a colt from Bonner's Pocahontas 
and Daniel Lambert ! 

Never breed from an immature horse. Weakness 
and unsoundness are pretty sure to follow. The value 
of a horse consists in the perfection of all his faculties 
and organs, — his bones, muscles, sinews, brains. He 
cannot transmit these with any certainty until he has 
them himself Young horses are always doubtful sires. 
Old horses, if good themselves, have seldom any reason 
to be ashamed of their offspring. Ethan Allen ruined 



AGRICULTUKE AND THE HORSE. 391 

his reputation as a stock-getter by starting too young ; 
and so ruined it, that even the success of his later years 
has hardly redeemed it. "VVaxy and Melbourne and 
Ion and Sir Hercules in England, and Black Hawk and 
Messenger and Abdallah in America, sired many of 
their best colts when they were twenty or more years 
old. I bred a good two-year-old stallion once to six 
good mares, and got six good-for-nothing colts. The 
same stallion did fine service at ten. 

I would not breed from kickers or biters, or sullen 
horses, or half-broken horses or mares, or from horses 
and mares which have not been accustomed for gen- 
erations to the work of civilized, useful, and practical 
life. I would have the acquired faculties, which are 
as sure to be transmitted as the natural ones, as good 
and reliable as may be. 

If you will out-cross in breeding, be careful not to 
bring animals together which are violently and diamet- 
rically different from each other. The attempts to 
cross the Arab upon American mares of Morgan and 
Messenger blood, and the modern English thorough- 
bred upon similar mares, have usually ended in 
wretched failures. And not in this country alone is 
this true : for when I asked a distinguished American 
artist, long resident in Rome, why the thorough-bred 
of England had not been introduced into Tuscany and 
other parts of Italy to improve the breeds of horses 
there, he replied, "It has been done; but the result 
was a crop of weedy, leggy brutes of no value what- 



392 AGRICULTURE AITD THE HORSE. 

ever." We have had some notable instances of this 
near home. 

We are always told that we should not bi'eed a large 
stallion upon small mares. I do. not think this is a 
universal law. I have seen many large stallions, whose 
stock, even in a country abounding in small mares, was 
excellent ; but these were horses whose muscular struc- 
ture preponderated largely over their bony, — large 
horses with quick and nimble action. Horses whose 
bony development is greater than their muscular, 
horses with thin muscles and great bones, would not 
be likely to improve the stock of a region, especially 
if the mares were small. A thoroughly good horse 
with a good ancestry, whether large or small, would 
present great temptations to me. I should be willing 
to let him prove himself 

If either side is to be slow, let it be the mare. It 
is by the male that a race is to be improved. And 
always expect to get more good females than males; 
for this is the very general result in breeding all 
animals. 

/^ When a colt is born into a family, especially if his 
lot is cast in pleasant places and he has a goodly heri- 
tage, the foremost danger is that he will be spoiled in 
early life. It really seems as if almost all owners of 
horses endeavored to ascertain how, in the most expe- 
ditious manner, to ruin them. The natural tendency of 
a horse, young or old, is to preserve himself in a sound 
and healthy condition. The wear and tear of a life of 



AGEICULTUEE AND THE HORSE. 393 

hard work, and tlie injurious effects of a life of luxury 
and ease, are about equally destructive to him ; and the 
price he is obliged to pay for his intimacy with man, 
and the care and €ittention he receives at his hands, 
is the loss, in a large or a small degree, of the robust 
health and elastic animal spirits, and the abounding and 
joyous and painless power of motion, with which Nature 
endows him. A colt is a happy thing in the beginning, 
— happier than a child : a horse is intended to be 
a happy thing through life, — happier than a man. But 
the folly and misfortune which sadden and weaken 
the master bear heavily also upon his dumb and patient 
servant. The two travel a hard road together, and 
both are obliged to pay the penalty which should in 
justice fall upon one. If this is one of the inevitable 
consequences of the decree which gives man dominion 
over the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, 
I suppose man and animal must silently and patiently 
submit and obey. But it may not be so. If, for the 
gratification of ambition or pride, or for high service to 
his race, or for immortal renown, man is willing to sub- 
ordinate and sacrifice all his physical powers, and is 
determined that his body shall obey the commands 
of his imperious spirit, inspired and consumed in the 
great flame, so must it be ; but let him spare his 
servant who obeys him, — his dumb beast who has 
trusted in him. 

It is a good thing, sir, to remember that a horse has 
certain natural faculties, without which he would not 



394 AGEICULTUKE AND THE HORSE. 

be a horse, and which it is important to preserve. Man 
is so wise, as well as tyrannical, that he finds it difficult 
to believe that he is not to remodel and reconstruct 
every thing* which is provided for his use and comfort 
before it is fit for his imperial service ; and so he med- 
dles with every body and every thing. It is much 
easier for him to comprehend his own handiwork than 
the Lord's. His boy stands before him, a bright, strong, 
attractive lad, full of capacity and promise ; a combina- 
tion of faculties good and bad, each striving for the 
ascendency ; a fresh and glowing creation from the hand 
of God, intended to rejoice his father, and bless man- 
kind. It is only necessary for that father to know where 
to encourage him, where to suppress him, and where to 
let him alone ; to distinguish between his healthy pow- 
ers, which a superabundance of youth and strength may 
sometimes make offensive, and those unhealthy deform- 
ities, which, even while quiet and slumbering, are dis- 
gusting and discouraging. But this is no easy task. 
Where there should be peace and mutual confidence, 
a contest begins : and, before it ends, the boy has lost 
his self-respect, his love, his confidence in his fellow- 
men ; his virtues are discouraged ; his vices rage. Or it 
may be, that, in rooting up the tares, the wheat has been 
pulled up along with them ; or his good points may 
have been distorted into subserviency and inefficiency, 
while his bad ones may have learned how to play the 
hypocrite, and rule. Where, too, there should be a manly 
and dignified intercourse, there is too often an eflfemi- 



AGEICULTURE AND THE HOESE. 395 

nate and enervating intimacy. The boy may be softened 
into abject reliance upon those who should inspire and 
encourage his most manly self-reliance. That apron- 
string business — how many a brave fellow has it sent 
mewling through life like a milksop ! His father has 
made a good boy of him, but not the boy he was in- 
tended to be. The problem has been solved, but_ not 
in the right way. And, in the trials which follow, he 
wonders where those qualities are which he felt moving 
within him in his youth ; and the father wonders why he 
is so little satisfied with the work of his own hands. 
No, sir : do not bother the boys. Do not meddle with 
them too much. Make them way-wise early. Don't 
pat them into weakness, or check them into madness. 
And, when they go forth in life, let them have manliness 
enough to meet their fellow-men in a manly way, gen- 
erosity enough to warm a generous feeling in the breasts 
of their associates, charity enough to forgive the faults 
of their fellow-men, and humanity enough to know that 
it is better and more useful to encourage the virtues 
than to expose the vices of society, and more honorable 
to set a good example than to pronounce a good 
precept. 

But, sir, to the colts. They, like the boys, may be 
spoiled by meddling with them. Not that I would leave 
them to run wild, — a rough and shaggy and half-savage 
drove. But I would not so thoroughly domesticate 
them as to obliterate every trace of that headlong and 
impulsive temperament which makes a colt a colt. I 



396 AGEICULTUEE AND THE HORSE. 

have seen many a colt, especially wlien he was the "one 
ewe lamb," so petted, that he was more like a house-dog 
than any thing else. He had become so much the inti- 
mate companion of the family, that, as he grew up, he 
forgot to be in any way the servant. An appeal to his 
progressive faculties, which are the dominant faculties 
of a horse, was received with a sort of blank astonish- 
ment, instead of as a signal for more vigorous exertion. 
He had lost all that courage and independence which 
Virgil saw and admired when he spoke of his "leading 
the way," and " braving the torrent," and daring "the 
unknown arch that spans the waves." You may sup- 
pose that a good gait and strong powers of endurance 
are not to be destroyed in any such way as this ; but I 
assure you, that, while they may possibly remain, the 
knowledge how to use them may be lost. Every expe- 
rienced man knows that a horse will be one thing in 
the hands of one driver, and another thing in the hands 
of another. Hiram Woodruff could give new strength 
to the Roan the instant he took the reins ; and Dexter 
and Ripton were inspired with new energy by his touch. 
My trusty and unyielding favorite, Jim, is a handful 
when I am behind him ; a quiet lounger when Michael 
has him in hand. Now, what shall we say to all this ? 
Why, that a horse knows what he is • doing, and whom 
he is dealing with ; and that, having learned his lesson, 
it becomes as much a part of him as his -second nature. 
If, therefore, you want a horse, let the colt retain, in his 
full vigor, the fire that warms his blood. You must not 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HOKSE. 897 

humanize him entirely. Meet him half way. Let him ', 
understand that there is as much horse in you as you 
expect there will be man in him. Let your intercourse 
with him be calm and good-natured, but prompt, ener- 
getic, decided, with a sort of careless firmness, colored 
with tenderness and youthful activity. 

A colt should neither be petted to death, nor con- 
quered and subdued to death. He should be familiar- 
ized with the harness when so young, that he may 
imagine the straps to be a part of himself He should 
never know what it is to be "broken." He should 
find himself engaged in business, he hardly knows how; 
and he should be gradually introduced to his work with 
an unruffled temper, and an acquiescent but unsubdued 
spirit. When you conquer a young horse, you can 
never tell where the conquest is going to end. I re- 
member well the effect of a pulley-rein ingeniously 
rigged by means of the water-hook, and a ring-bit, and 
a lengthened line, upon a wiry and spirited colt which 
I got many years ago in the State of Maine. He sud- 
denly took it into his head to pull ; and, as usual with in- 
experts, I pulled in turn. He was stronger than I, and 
could last longer ; and so he could out-pull me in 
a ten-mile drive. I fixed my pulley upon him. Every 
half-inch which I secured, I could retain. It was an 
uneven fight for him. Two or three trials discouraged 
him. He gave up pulling, and was never a horse 
thereafter. He would not, under any circumstances, 
take the bit ; but he would, under all circumstances, 



398 AGKICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

take the whip without emotion, and with an indifference 
a thousand times more annoying than all his impetuos- 
ity had ever been. I do not have pullers now. I break 
my colts at two years old, gently, easily, good-natured- 
ly ; amuse myself with their coltish ways ; never use a 
harsh bit, no bar-bit, no bit with keys and toggles, but 
a large, well-covered snaffle, which will not chafe the 
corners of the mouth as a bar does, and which is kept 
steady with an easy bearing-rein. A bitting apparatus 
I despise, as I do a . colt which has fussed and fretted 
and champed and fumed until he has fussed and fretted 
himself over on to one rein. When a colt has well 
learned his lesson at two years old, he gets no more 
education from me until he is four or five. I never 
knew one to forget what he had learned, and have 
never yet had occasion to re-break one who had been 
allowed his two or three years of idleness, liberty, and 
growth, I think in this way you avoid all violence in 
training; you do not interfere with the colt's spirits; 
you do not expose him to wrenches and strains ; and 
you give him a chance to harden his muscles by free 
exercise in the open air, just at the time when his bones 
are becoming well knit, and his nervous power strong 
and enduring. 

As a colt may be spoiled by over-handling, so may 
he be ruined by over-feeding. Dr. Buckingham of 
Boston, in his admirable address read before the Massa- 
chusetts Medical Society at its last annual meeting, 
after speaking of the reckless manner in which the 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 399 

lives of young children are trifled with by the use of 
" artificial food," when they should be confined, as 
nearly as possible, to the nourishment which Nature 
provides for them, says, "There the baby of the 
lower animal has the advantage. He is fed on natural 
food only, from the beginning, because his father and 
mother don't know enough to kill him. ]\Ian, the 
reasoning being, is defeated by the animals, who pos- 
sess instinct only. They never, for amusement nor 
curiosity, experiment upon the stomachs and lives of 
their children, with the desire of seeing how much 
indigestion they will bear with impunity, I am not 
alone in the belief that the excessive mortality at an 
early period of infancy is, very much of it, caused by 
attempts to substitute for natural nourishment that 
which will save time and trouble to the mother, and by 
attempts to force growth." With Dr. Buckingham's 
views of the proper food for the young of all animals 
we must all agree ; but, if he were as familiar with the 
" attempts to force growth " in our stables as he is in 
our nurseries, I am afraid he would hesitate before 
drawing an unqualified illustration from the former for 
the benefit of the latter. I agree that the father and 
mother of the colt "don't know enough to kill him; " 
but the owner does, oftentimes, know just enough. And 
the same destruction which the physician witnesses with 
distress and shame in his practice, the farmer may, 
with equal distress and shame, see in his stables ; in a 
less fatal form, it is true, but in a form none the less 



400 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

disastrous. You cannot easily kill a colt by injudicious 
feeding, I know; but you can inflict injuries upon him 
that are worse than death, and give him. a prolonged 
life of weakness and suffering and uselessness. A 
dyspeptic man in the counting-room, or the pulpit, or 
the court-room, — made a dyspeptic by the injudicious 
food of his childhood, or by his own mature thought- 
lessness, — is an object of deep compassion, it is true; 
but how much more compassion should we feel for the 
animal, who, without human aspiration and ambition to 
bear him above the pains of his existence, has been fed 
into a weakened stomach, and an exaggerated carcass, 
and nerveless limbs, and tender feet, and unsound 
joints, and cribbing, and torpor, and premature death ! 
And this we see continually among the favorite colts. 
Give me the boys whose health and strength are 
derived from natural food in infancy, and simple food 
in youth. Give me the colts whose dams have been 
generous, and whose owners have been judicious. If 
I have a colt born late in the season, say in August or 
September (which I much prefer to spring and early 
summer), I have no trouble about the first winter. A 
box-stall, and good food for the mare, who is to nurse 
her colt until the following spring approaches, will take 
me over that first trying season, and will prepare the 
colt well for weaning and his first summer's run at grass. 
But if my colt is to be weaned, as usual, when he 
comes to the barn in autumn, I must then exercise skill 
and judgment in transferring him from his infant life to 



AGRICTJLTUEE AND THE HOESE. 401 

the days of his childhood. A httle milk from the cow 
once a day for a few days, and a pint, or thereabouts, 
of oats and shorts, with rowen or fine hay, a mixture of 
red-top and herds-grass, will carry him over the trials 
of being separated from his dam. But all this must 
cease as soon as possible ; and that diet of good hay and 
roots, which is to serve him until put upon the road, 
must be commenced. I have known many a colt 
ruined by heavy feed this first winter. It is pleasant to 
see his glossy coat and lively head and mature neck, 
and well-developed form under a good supply of oats, 
"with just a little cracked corn." But all this pleasure 
will vanish if you look carefully at those knees, which 
tremble a little after exercise ; and it will still more en- 
tirely vanish if you will examine him after his summer's 
run at grass, and wonder why he looks no better, and has 
not grown more. " It has been a bad season for colts," 
you say. But no: the season has been good enough 
for those young things which wintered well in a box 
and a barn-yard, had simple food, were kept healthy and 
thriving, and went out in the spring a little ragged, it 
is true, and not over-fat, but as hardy as cold air and 
good appetites could make them. The season has been 
good enough for these. I have said, good hay and roots : 
and by roots I do not mean carrots, — the most unsatis- 
factory root that horse, young or old, can eat, producing 
an unhealthy state of the skin and kidneys, overloading 
the cellular tissues with fat, and making a horse as 
washy as a lather-brush ; but I mean Swedish turnips, 

26 



402 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

rutabagas, — the king of roots for all young animals 
which are making bone and muscle, and for all old ones 
which are being stalled. I have long since abandoned 
carrots. Having become dissatisfied with them, either 
for my colts or my driving-horses, I looked about for 
a substitute ; and learning, from a report on Farming in 
Ireland, that in the early spring, when the farmers there 
began to plough, they also began to feed Swedes to their 
horses which were to draw the plough, I took the hint. 
I do not ask others to follow my example ; but I am 
under everlasting obligations to the Irishman for his, 
and to the observer who recorded it. I have many 
colts that have never eaten a mouthful of grain until 
four years old, and many a horse who has wintered on 
hay and turnips, and always wintered well. I know 
nothing which will restore a colt in early winter, if he 
comes to the barn out of condition, and begins to 
droop and stock as soon as he is confined to the stable, 
so readily and effectually as Swedes. I can drive my 
old horses in winter, when fed on them, an occasional 
drive, as well as I can when fed on corn. I can pre- 
serve their legs in good condition, and their health in 
a sound state, year after year, on this food. And I am 
sure, that, while I can bring a colt to a working-age with 
hay and turnips better than with any thing else, I can 
also secure to myself a good, hard, lively winter horse, 
and to the horse himself a longer and more useful and 
comfortable life. Turnips are economically raised: they 
make bone and muscle ; they keep the digestive organs 



AGEICULTURE AKD THE HOESE. 403 

in good condition ; they impart vigor to the nervous sys- 
tem. If you are told that your colt or your horse will 
not eat them, let me tell you that an animal that will 
learn any thing will soon learn to like them. Hay and 
turnips and good pasturage for colts; hay and turnips . 
for the winter-food of resting-horses. And if you do ■ 
not believe that heavy feed during the first winter will 
injure a colt, ay, during the first three winters of his life, 
go and buy one that has been thus fed ; and in this way 
pay for your knowledge, as I have paid for mine/ Breed 
a good colt, and have him fade out on your hands about 
the fourth winter, if not the first summer, on account of 
your stuffing process, as I have myself done. Go and 
ask Ethan Allen, and hundreds of his descendants who 
went through this enervating process ; go and ask the fat 
and favorite colts who are passing their hot-bed lives 
in the good-looking stables which are multiplying 
everywhere ; go and ask the thousands of English thor- 
ough-breds who are hobbling about, ruined by forced 
growth, and forced efforts, and hot food, ere their lives 
had faMy begun ; and see what an answer you will get. 
They will all tell you, that all the muscle the horse 
makes after he is four years old is worth vastly more 
than what he makes before that time ; that all the fat 
a colt loads upon himself before he is four years old, 
and perhaps five, is an injury to him ; that the life is 
shortened, and the powers weakened, by early feed 
and early work ; that the breeder of a good horse must 
be patient ; that if you will feed for early maturity, and 



404 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

drive for early speed, you must expect to lose a large 
part of the ultimate value of your horse, — a few years 
of life, a few seconds of speed on the track. Precocity 
is a poor thing : that alone endures which ripens slowly. 
The wisdom of human maturity is the best wisdom, — 
that maturity which comes from the steady and legiti- 
mate development of all human powers. That speed 
and endurance are the greatest which are not called 
for until the horse is in full possession of all his facul- 
ties. An American man, dependent on himself for all 
he is and is to be, fit for all the duties which may de- 
volve upon him, will not grow up in a day. An Amer- 
ican horse of all work, destined to toil like a locomo- 
tive, and expected to travel like one, wants time to 
develop himself for his tremendous service. It takes a 
great while to make a man, a trotting-horse, and an 
Ayrshire cow. Spruce-wood, Short-horn beef. Western, 
corn-fed horse-flesh, all grow apace ; but they do not 
stand high in the scale, and they do not endure unto 
the end. 

But, sir, the folly of bad feeding is no greater than 
the folly of bad stabling. The practice of providing 
warm and tightly-built stables for young colts is as in- 
jurious to them as forcing their growth by heavy 
feed. A colt requires fi'esh air ; and, if he is furnished 
with an opportunity, he will be sure to get it. His lungs 
are the largest part of his internal organs ; and he will 
provide for them, if there is any way to do it. Give 
hiiji the best and warmest box in the world, and he will 



AGKICULTUEE AND THE HORSE. 405 

leave it for tlie invigorating influences of tlie northern 
blasts in winter, and for the cooling and indurating 
effects of a coating of snow and hail. He seems to 
understand by instinct, that if he confines himself to the 
hot air of an elaborate, well-finished, model stable, his 
energies will wilt and fade. He seems to know that a 
glossy, shining coat is to him a sort of white wall of a 
whited sepulchre, — pleasing without, but within full of 
all equine disabilities ; and so he only asks for room 
to stretch his growing limbs, and a roof sufficient to 
shield him from the storm, undisturbed if he should see 
a star throu^'h the crevice above him, and feel the fresh 
breeze whistling through a crack by his side. He vv^auts 
a well-ventilated stable, and a chance to get out of it 
whenever he has a desire to do so. And, above all 
things, let him stand on the ground, if possible, while in 
his box ; and, at any rate, in a yard into which his box 
opens. A floor, especially a wooden floor, is bad enough 
for a mature working-horse ; but to a colt it is almost 
destruction. I have no shadow of doubt that we ruin 
thousands of horses' feet in this country hy our plank- 
floors. The wood, when dry, is a non-conductor of heat, 
and tends to keep the hoof above its natural temperature, 
and to remove from it all its natural moisture ; and, when 
wet, it has a tendency to rise above the surrounding tem- 
perature by fermentation. Wet or dry, therefore, wood, 
whether in the form of a plank-floor or of sawdust- 
bedding, is very injurious to the horse's foot. And so 
thoroughly convinced of this am I, that I always pro- 



406 AGEICULTUKE AND THE HORSE. 

vide brick floors for all that portion of the stall which 
is occupied by the horse's fore-feet, — a practice which 
• has, with the aid of tar-ointment, protected me, for 
more than twenty years of hard driving on hard roads, 
from sore-toed horses, and has sent out of my stables a 
foot which every farrier in town recognizes the in- 
stant he puts his buttrice into it. For the feet, then, 
of the colt and the idle horse, furnish the earth as 
a standing-place : for the feet of the working-horse, 
furnish a brick or stone floor. By such a floor alone 
can you secure to your colt a good foot ; and in this 
; way alone, moreover, can you be sure of giving him a 
• good leg, a well-shaped ankle, and a firm and substan- 
tial knee. I know not how it is ; but the misshapen 
ankles and shaky knees which come out of hot stables 
with wooden floors among the colts which have wintered 
there constitute one of the peculiar phenomena of the 
business of rearing these animals. But so it is; and 
I urge upon you all, whether you like horses or not, 
I whether you fear or trust them, to give them the solid 
\ ground to stand on, whenever it is practicable, in their 
\ youth, and any thing but wood in their days of matu- 
rity and toil. 

So important do I consider this matter of floors, that 
I pass by all the feeding arrangements of the stall, 
whether for hay or grain, as of secondary consideration. 
I think it is a poor plan, however, to compel a colt to 
put his head through a hole in order to get at his food, 
or to thrust it under a low beam, or to drag his hay 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 407 

through a narrow rack. A feed-box, so constructed as 
not to furnish an opportunity for cribbing and biting, 
elevated not much above the stall-floor, and easily 
cleaned, is the best contrivance I have seen. 

I take it for granted that no man will compel his colt 
to stand on a manure-heap, unless he wishes to injure 
his feet ; and that the stall will be kept as clean as time 
and circumstances will allow. 

But you will say to me, — those of you who are espe- 
cially anxious to place the horse in as unfavorable a 
light as possible, and to cool the enthusiasm of his 
friends, — that, in spite of all your care and attention, the 
animal will be sick and unsound. I know it. But let 
me tell you that he need not be sick half as much as 
he is, nor unsound half as often, if proper measures 
are taken to preserve his health, and to prevent and 
cure his unsoundness. 

With regard to his health, it is easier to preserve it ) 
than it is to restore it. The natural condition of the 
horse is one of robust health, of good digestion, of 
strong respiratory organs, of calm and even circulation. 
He ' has no especial tendency to those diseases which 
torment the human race, and lurk in our swamps and 
cellars and water-springs, and crowded habitations, and 
thronged cities. A few epidemics peculiar to himself, 
and one or two inflammatory disorders, constitute the 
great bulk of his ailments. And yet the loss of horses by 
disease is enormous. What the precise character of the 
disease is, its symptoms, its local complications, its pre- 



408 AGKICULTUEE AND THE HORSE. 

monitions, tlie exact time and extent of convales- 
cence, it is difficult to ascertain ; for the horse has no 
story to tell. He is dumb under suffering, and can 
point out to no man the locality of his distress. How 
keen his agony is, no one can understand ; for he bears 
with apparent insensibility crushing accidents which 
would paralyze his master, or leave him writhing in 
unspeakable agony. The effect, also, of remedial agents 
upon the horse, is a matter extremely difficult to inves- 
tigate. We apply them : the relief comes ; and we are 
too glad to trace it to our own efforts. But the veil is 
still drawn, and the mystery is as impenetrable as ever. 
I do not for a moment mean to doubt that soap and 
aloes, singly or combined, that opium, and saltpetre, and 
rosin, and ginger, and yellow-bark, and carbonate of 
ammonia, and sal-prunella, and oil of juniper, and cam- 
phor, and mustard, and oil of turpentine, and calomel, 
and digitalis, and belladonna, and Colombo, and cassia, 
and rhubarb, will cure anasarca, and fevers of various 
kinds, and perhaps check glandel'S and farcy ; because I 
am told so every day by those whose business it is to 
administer all these powerful medicinal agents. But I 
do know, that, in the human subject, such a pharmaco- 
poeia has lost its ancient charm ; and an intelligent as- 
sistance of Nature is now considered as important as 
the heroic treatment adopted by our ancestors. And 
I think I know one thing more ; and that is, that often- 
times the difficulties created by medicine itself are as 
hard to overcome as the disease it is proposed to re- 



AGEICULTUEE AJ<iB THE HORSE. 409 

move by their use. I heard my family physician say 
once, when my son John was lying ill of typhoid-fever, 
"Watch him, and keep him comfortable. The chances 
are that Nature will work herself out of the trouble with 
but little aid of ours : if so, the convalescence will be 
rapid and steady. But if we must help Nature, why, we 
must ; but we shall have to cure the disease we create 
in that event, as well as the one we now have." Some 
medical man once told me that medicines generally sub- 
stitute one disease for another ; and, as Nature cannot 
well do two things at the same time, we may turn her 
attention from wjhat is unmanageable to what is easily 
controlled. I think there is something in this ; for I 
can readily understand that the condition of body pro- 
duced by mercury, and iodide of potassium, and opium, 
and digitalis, and quinine, is as much a disease as rheu- 
matism and colic, and palpitation of the heart, and fever 
and ague. This a man can undoubtedly bear, if he can 
only move about his business or his pleasure. But a 
horse cannot. He must be " pretty well," or his machine 
will not work. He is, moreover, very easily affected by 
medicine. His system feels it much more readily than 
does that of man ; and he cannot throw off its effects as 
rapidly as man can. I gave a horse some small doses 
of antimony, many years ago, to give him a glossy coat ; 
and he was nearly a year recovering from the evidently 
prostrating influence of the drug. So I am of the 
opinion that w^e should avoid dosing our horses as much 
as possible. I should recommend early attention to the 



410 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

first appearance of illness, with care, warmth, shelter, 
starvation, and cold water. I have never lost a horse 
in my stable from disease. No sooner does a horse show 
signs of sickness there than his work is stopped, his 
food reduced, he has repose, and a wet sheet if necessary. 
But among my working farm-horses I have had several 
fatal cases of disease, which were neglected or unob- 
served until past cure. Do not try to work a sick 
horse : believe that he is really sick in season. Do not 
try to persuade yourself that he will get along ; but 
nurse him promptly and well in a well-ventilated stable. 
But as I have said, sir, you can prevent disease more 
easily than you can cure it. There is no doubt that 
the annual loss of horses by death is more a cause of the 
hazards and risks of the horse-business than the uncer- 
tainties and fluctuations of the market. Even a fortunate 
hit, made by discovering an unexpectedly valuable horse 
in a large number purchased, will not compensate for 
the money sunk in this way. A very large proportion 
of the deaths which occur amono- horses is in crowded 
cities, where they work and accumulate to supply 
the market. And are you surprised at this ? Go with 
me, if you are, some morning about the middle of April, 
when the sale-stables are full, and see if you cannot 
account for the destruction of horse-life which is so 
disastrous, and so supinely deplored. In the long 
rows of stalls stand the patient victims of man's cupidity 
and thoughtlessness, waiting to be transferred to the 
scenes of their labors. They have come flocking in from 



AGEICTJLTURB AND THE HOESE. " 411 

the fresh air of their native hills, from the sweet hay- 
mows and airy stables of their rural homes, from the 
repose of a farm and the untainted freshness of country 
life. They have suddenly been brought from all this 
healthy and invigorating existence to the heat and 
tumult, and stifling air, and musty hay, and heated 
corn, and poisoned water, of a crowded, ill-ventilated, 
smothering stable. Pricked hourly out of that torpor 
into which such influences throw them, and goaded 
into a sort of feeble animation to attract a customer, 
put to the utmost stretch again and again "for the 
sake of a trade," is it surprising that they should lose 
their balance and their health, and become a prey to 
every variety of inflammatory disease known to veteri- 
nary practice? These poor dumb victims are com- 
pelled to live where man would perish, and are ex- 
pected to retain their energies where he would faint and 
fall. Now, in the name of humanity and ordinary com- 
mercial thrift and sagacity, let this be stopped. There 
is no reason why sale-stables should be horse-hells,; no 
reason why they should vie with the Black Hole in their 
inevitable cruelty and destruction and gloom. These, 
and city stables generally, except those belonging to 
private gentlemen, and here and there a livery, are a 
disgrace and a shame to a civilized community. So long 
as they continue as they now are, horses must die. There 
are no remedies for the sudden and violent diseases 
.which will attend such poisonous air and water and 
food. The remedy lies in providing ample and well- 



412 AGEICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

ventilated stables, — stables well lighted, with stalls 
of ample dimensions, with escape-pipes for the ammo- 
niacal effluvia which arise from so many animals and 
their excretions, with more room for evaporation, and 
then the chances would no longer be against every 
horse who passes through those doors, as they were 
against those ghostly ones who passed through Dante's 
gate, and, as they went in, read above their heads, — 

"Per me si va in eterno dolore." 
"Who passes liere goes into everlasting hell." 

Improve the stables, then, and prevent disease. Give 
the young horses more and better food, — more sweet 
hay, and less sour grain. In all the stables, public and 
private, give them better air, broader stalls, cleaner 
feed-boxes, better floors, and fewer stenches. Do not 
insult a respectable animal who has come down from 
the country to do his share of the work of the world, 
and has brought with him the memory of the sweet 
hills and skies at least, by immuring him in one of those 
cramped, rickety, rotten, stinking, slovenly, damp dun- 
geons, where a dumb beast would lose his breath, and 
his self-respect, and his courage, beneath an oppressive 
weight of miasmas, and hideous, gloomy, nasty confu- 
sion. Stop this, or pray that horses may die ere the 
evil days come. 

But, sir, I shall be reminded, I am sure, of that unfor- 
tunate and trying tendency of almost every horse, how- 
ever well he may be cared for, to become more or less 



AGRICULTFKE AND THE HORSE. 413 

unsound. I know this is so. The horse has, partly by 
an inheritance of defects which are very apt to attend 
a delicate organization, and partly through the abuse to 
which he is subjected from his youth upwards, a lia- 
bility to break down in many points where it would 
seem as if Nature should have guarded and strengthened 
him with peculiar care. That he becomes spavined and 
ring-boned and curbed and splinted and broken-winded 
and sore-toed, I will not deny. But all these seem to 
me to grow out of man's determination to spoil his 
horse ; for when we remember that the horse's foot is 
the strongest structure of the kind in all the animal 
kingdom, and that his hock is the most ingeniously 
packed and contrived, and his fore-leg the best con- 
structed to receive a blow, and his pasterns the finest 
combination of elasticity and strength, and liis lungs the 
largest and most capacious, we can understand what 
long generations of hardship and misuse he must have 
passed through to bring ujDon each one of these impor- 
tant and naturally powerful organs a peculiar dispo- 
sition to break down. If you were to examine a horse 
for the first time, you would say, " That foot cannot fail, 
no matter how hard the road ; that pastern will not 
give out ; that hock-joint will not yield to the hardest 
strains ; those lungs will endure through all long and 
severe driving on road or track." And the fact that 
they do fail, and have so long failed, that they are 
liable to congenital maleformation, is merely a proof that 
no machine could be subjected to such strain as falls 



414 AGEICULTURE AND tHE HORSE. 

upon the horse, without breaking ; no animal organiza- 
tion could possibly endure it without serious, almost 
incalculable, injury. It is useless, therefore, to close 
our eyes to this natural and artificial defect in the 
horse ; and, bearing in mind that he has been brought 
to this condition by his hard service for man, it seems 
to me, that, instead of condemning him for his weak- 
ness, we ought to help him out of his trouble. 

For one, sir, I do not condemn a horse on account 
of unsoundness until I am satisfied that he has got be- 
yond an alleviating remedy, and has become useless. 
I think one of the most touching sights in the world 
is a lame or disabled horse engaged in his daily toil. 
I realize how he came to this painful condition ; and I 
feel that I am under a sort of sacred obligation to bear 
patiently and generously the defects of my own faithful 
servant. So I am always slow to condemn a horse for 
unsoundness : in the first place, on account of my charity 
for him ; in the next place, because nearly every horse 
has some defect, of more or less importance, which one 
must bear and excuse ; and, lastly, because, taken in 
season, and properly treated, almost every form of un- 
soundness can be alleviated, and virtually removed for 
all practical purposes. It is idle to expect Nature, un- 
unassisted, to cure unsoundness ; and it is useless to 
hope to remove it in any form by neglect. It is neither 
wise nor humane, either to shut your eyes to the first 
approaches of the local difficulty, or to delay your atten- 
tion to it when discovered, in the hope that somehow 



AGEICULTUKE AND THE HOESE. 415 

tlie horse himself will find his way out. I hardly know 
any calamity, large or small, in which delay is so tempt- 
ing, and hope so strong, as the misfortunes which befall 
our favorite horses, and that special colt so full of 
promise. 

If your horse is lame, then, realize the fact as quickly 
as possible, and attend to it. Locate the lameness 
where it manifestly is, or where it is most likely to be, 
even if there is a hopelessness about it ; and allow no 
friend or surgeon to flatter you with the suggestion that 
the trouble is temporary, trivial, confined to some com- 
paratively unimportant point, and, in your horse at 
least, is not what it would be in every other horse about 
you. If the lameness is " forward," you may, in nine 
cases out of ten, infer that the trouble is in the foot, un- 
less you can discover some manifest enlargement of the 
bones or sinews. Shoulders are seldom lame. It is the 
foot which is most exposed : it is the foot which is most 
affected by the action of the shoulder and leg above it ; 
so that many wise observers have insisted upon it that 
any foot will stand, if rightly managed by the muscles 
which move it : and it is the foot whose diseases are most 
difficult to cure. There is no lameness so perplexing, 
annoying, and discouraging. It puts an end very effect- 
ually to a horse's fast work, and enrolls his name among 
the slow movers on the farm or in the family-carriage. 
Rest, cold water, Miles's tar-ointment (to stimulate the 
growth around the coronet), a cool brick floor, with 
perhaps a blister or two, will almost always relieve the 



416 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

early stages of the disease, and give the horse comfort, 
and abihty to discharge well the service of a quiet life. 
But laminitis and navicular disease do not surrender so 
easily, and are as troublesome as the gout when they 
find their way into the luxurious horse-circles, — those 
ckcles in which they are most usually found. 

So, too, of ring-bone and spavin. More conspicuous 
than diseases of the foot, they are more easily managed. 
I would never resign a promising young horse on ac- 
count of the appearance of these diseases ; and I would 
never neglect them until they were' past relief I once 
removed from the pasterns of a likely two-year-old, by 
a couple of blisterings, what I was told in mild phrase 
were "spreads," but what, had they been let alone, 
would have been nugbones in all their deformity ; and 
so effectually did I remove them, that, at four years old, 
the enlargements were not visible, except on the most 
careful inspection. Two of the best horses I ever bred, 
two of the best that anybody ever bred, became dis- 
eased in their hocks at four years old, and were threat- 
ened with incurable lameness. They were too good to 
be wasted. I could not bear the thought of their 
being cripples for life. They were fired and blistered as 
soon as the spavin manifested itself; were given a year's 
run at grass and in the winter-yard ; and have done con- 
stant work on the road from that day to this, without 
the slightest appearance of even stiffness in their joints. 
I do not think their speed, even (and they both have 
a great deal of it), has been reduced a particle. I am 



AGRICULTUKE AXD THE HORSE. 417 

aware that tlie loss of six montlis or a year in the work- 
ing-time of a horse is a serious matter for most men 
who use horses. But, to such as work them simply for 
what they can earn, this remedy is cheaper than the 
ultimate loss of the animal altogether ; and, to those 
who are breeding and preparing them for the market, 
it must be economy to take hold of these defects in 
season, and treat them promptly and summarily. Hardly 
a local disease can be named which will not yield to this 
summary process, and rest. If there is any check to 
be put to cribbing, for instance, — that most mysterious 
and unaccountable of all diseases of horses, a diseased 
habit which is often acquired, and which I have seen in- 
herited, — it is by instantly remo\ang every object which 
can be seized with the teeth, and by regulating the food. 
So, too, of swelled legs, scratches, corns, false-quarter, 
thrush, and other difficulties which arise from neglecting 
either the general condition of the horse, or from inju- 
dicious use. Into the intricacies of veterinary practice 
I have no idea of entering ; nor do I propose to give an 
elaborate description of diseases for the gratification of 
curiosity or the inculcation of science. I can only 
suggest the fundamental principles of dealing with the 
ills to which the horse is heir, — principles which, if 
adopted, will insure economy to the master, and comfort 
to the animal, and the neglect of which may lead to an 
endless train of expensive surgical experiments, and 
complicated and incurable disorders. 

And now, Mr. Chairman, it is time that I should 

27 



418 AGEICCTLTURE AND THE HORSE. 

bring my remarks to a close. I might say much upon 
the structure of the stable ; but I trust the hints I have 
drop|)ed on this topic, as I have dealt with others, will 
answer the purpose at this time. I should like to discuss 
the subject of shoeing : but I am aware how much has 
been said, and how little taught, on this matter already ; 
and I should be sorry to add my share to the stock of 
speculation already existing, and which, when we con- 
sider the thousands of horses who wear the various 
shoes designed by Turk and Arab and Italian and Rus- 
sian and Frenchman and Englishmen and American, 
must be largely mere speculation ; otherwise myriads of 
horses would be unable to stand or step. It has been 
my special desire to satisfy those of you who have lis- 
tened to me so long, that the subject of hippology 
needs no extravagant elaboration, but is in all its prin- 
ciples, whether dealing with health or disease, so sim- 
\:)\e to a practical farmer, that no man need err therein. 
I am satisfied that it is not half so difficult to select a 
good horse as some suppose, if you will only see ex- 
actly Avhat is before your eyes, and not allow yourself 
to be misled either by your own imagination, or by 
the persuasive words of him, who, finding you in want 
of a horse, feels that it is his mission to see that you 
are speedily supplied. I have observed that the pur- 
chasers of horses deceive themselves much oftener than 
they are deceived by the dealers. It requires no great 
keenness to discover a spavin as big as a hen s egg^ or 
a broken Avind heavinc: the sides like a blacksmith's 



AGKICULTUEE AND THE HOESE. 419 

bellows, or a disposition to shy at a wheelbarrow or a 
locomotive, or a dead and palpable lameness : but it 
does require considerable judgment to discover the real 
merit of a horse when he appears to be offered to you 
at a price far less than he cost on the farm where he 
was raised ; it requires a great deal of self-possession to 
resist the prophetic story of the speed which a green 
colt will undoubtedly develop when he begins to 
gather up that stride which now occupies the larger 
portion of a wide street. It is not easy for an ad- 
mirer of the horse universal, and a careful student of 
his characteristics and points, to look at him just as he 
is in his entire make-up, his tout ensemble. The mind is 
liable to be occupied with one predommant point, — 
the last point of distinction, most likely, which marked 
the last great trotter. Ethan Allen has a splendid 
shoulder ; and so his admirers buy shoulders. Lady Suf- 
folk has a powerful and symmetrical quarter ; and her 
devotees never cease to dwell upon and deal in hind- 
quarters. A Knox head will mislead the Knox men; 
a Fearnaught loin will blind the Fearnaught men. And 
so, among twenty gentlemen whom I met buying horses 
last spring, the only one who got a really good horse 
was the man who knew nothing about him, except that 
he filled his eye. He had no imaginary faults to reject, 
no imaginary virtues to admire. He knew no more 
after he had looked into a horse's mouth than if he 
had looked into a coal-scuttle. He did not know the 
difference between an Ethan Allen shoulder and a 



420 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

shoulder of lamb, between a Fearnauglit loin and a 
loin of veal, between a Lady Suffolk liind-quarter and 
a hind-quarter of mutton : he only laiew what a young- 
looking, vigorous, strong, good-driving, bay family- 
horse was, that measured by a rod fifteen hands and 
two inches, and weighed on the scales ten hundred 
and fifty pounds ; and he bought him at a price 
which he had fixed in his mind as his horse investment 
for this season, when the spring opened, — the sum he 
could afford to spend in this direction. The same kind 
of level common sense guided this man in this most dif- 
ficult of all branches of business — the purchasing of a 
horse — that makes a man a statesman, and not a politi- 
cian ; a merchant, and not a speculator ; a jurist, and not 
a pettifogger; a long-lived orator, and not an incendiary 
exhorter; a sagacious general, and not a military mar- 
tinet, — the same kind of common sense, though per- 
haps less in degree, but none the less entitled to our 
admiration, inasmuch as it leads men to strike the effec- 
tive blow, and perform the effective deed, and remove 
the entangling complications, which impracticable and 
imaginative gentlemen are apt to weave around prac- 
tical affairs ; that common sense, which, while strong in 
itself, always receives healthy invigoration from the 
highest culture and the most varied experience. 

Mr. Chairman, there ure a great many horses in the 
United States ; and I am happy to say that every mem- 
ber of this family is counted as a horse for some pur- 
pose. By the census, I learn that there are 7,145,370 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 421 

horses In this republic, — a horse to about every six 
persons, male and female, old and young, black, white, 
and mixed. There are 23,820,608 cattle; of which 
number, 8,935,332 are cows, 1,319,271 are oxen, and 
1 3, 5 GG, 005 are called of/ier cattle, — an undefined dis- 
tinction not known, I am happy to say, among the 
horses. For this vast number of horses, whose pur- 
pose is fixed and defined, I appear to-night before this 
small body of the founders of the Xew-England Agri- 
cultural Society. Of their industrial and commercial 
value it is unnecessary for me to speak here among 
those who know what a large portion of the wealth of 
our great grazing-farms they represent. That they will 
always have advocates, I cannot for a moment doubt. 
Their history has a charm which appeals at once to the 
farmer's boy as he sits by the fireside perusing his scanty 
but appropriate library. Their services will always be 
held in high esteem by all those who enjoy what is ener- 
getic and active and progressive in life, and who believe 
in the superior importance of vigorous and manly effort. 
They have already passed into the literature of the 
world ; standing by the side of the warrior on the bat- 
tle-field ; bearing the monarch in his pride, the maiden 
in her sweetness and grace, the lover in his ecstasy and 
joy ; adorning the triumphal pageant, and solemnizing 
the mournful procession. Of the horse have poets sung ; 
art has immortalized him ; science has devoted herself 
to his comfort and health ; and man has always hastened 
to bestow upon him with a liberal hand his largest and 



422 AGKICULTTJRE AND THE HORSE. 

most lavish bounty. He is intimately associated with 
all those scenes and events which make life dear and 
sacred to us ; and, as he has found his eulogists in the 
past, I doubt not that hereafter he will still receive from 
devoted friends in every walk in life that tribute to 
which he is entitled as man's most brilliant ally in the 
work of the world. He has already had a high place as- 
signed him among the objects which occupy and absdrb 
the minds of men ; and I trust the day is not far distant 
when it will be deemed worthy of some large-hearted 
and liberal-minded messenger of the divine to lift up 
his voice for the elevation of this noble animal into his 
proper place, — above the fears of the prudent and the 
suspicion of the good, and for the amelioration of all the 
hardship of his lot. He has done his duty so well thus 
far, that of him it has been said by one of the most bril- 
liant of the sons of men, — 

"Deduct all that has been achieved, directly or indi- 
rectly, by the aid of the horse, in the way of conveyance 
at home, from place to place, for business or recreation ; 
of distant jounieyings before the power of steam was 
so wonderfully applied to the purposes of locomotion ; 
of the draught of heavy burdens ; of motive-power con- 
nected with machinery, of agriculture, and of war, in 
all countries and in all ages, — deduct all that has been 
done, directly or indirectly, in all these respects, by the 
aid of the horse, and what a stupendous abatement you 
would make from the sum total of achievement and 
progress ! " 



AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 423 

And now, sir, yon will allow me, in conclusion, to re- 
peat an interesting and touching account of the rela- 
tions which existed between one of the most illustrious 
of our own race and one of the most fortunate of that 
race for whose cause I am now speaking. How well I 
remember it as it fell, not many years ago, from the 
eloquent lips of Edward Everett ! After urging for the 
horse persevering kindness, and asking if this would not 
also be beneficial and honorable among fellow-men and 
fellow- Christians, he said, — 

" However this may be, sir, if there is any one who 
doubts that the horse — the animal that most concerns 
us on this occasion — is susceptible of the kindest feelings 
of our nature, I think he would be convinced of his 
error by a most interesting anecdote of Edmund Burke. 
In the decline of Mr. Burke's life, when he was living 
in retirement on his farm at Beaconsfield, the rumor 
went up to London that he had gone mad ; and the fact 
that was stated m support of this rumor was, that he 
went round his park kissing the cows and horses. A 
friend, a man of rank and influence, hearing this story, 
and deeming it of too much importance to be left un- 
corrected, hastened down to Beaconsfield, and sought 
an interview, with the view of ascertaining the truth 
of the rumor. He entered into conversation with him. 
Mr. Burke read to him some chapters from his ' Letters 
on a R-egicide Peace.' His friend immediately saw, 
that, though his earthly tenement was verging back to 
its native dust, the lamp of reason and genius shone 



424 . AGEICULTUEE AND THE HORSE. 

with undiminished lustre within. He was accordingly 
more than satisfied as to the object of his coming down, 
and, in a private interview with Mrs. Burke, told her 
what he had come for, and received from her this pa- 
thetic explanation : — 

"Mr. Burke's only child, a beloved son, had, not long 
before, died, leaving behind him a favorite old horse, 
the companion of his excursions of business and pleas- 
ure when both were young and vigorous. This favor- 
ite animal was turned out by Mr. Burke the father into 
the park, with directions to all his servants that he 
should in every respect be treated as a privileged favor- 
ite. Mr. Burke himself, of course, in his morning walks, 
would often stop to caress the favorite animal. On one 
occasion, as he was taking his morning walk through the 
park, he perceived the poor old animal at a distance, 
and noticed, in turn, that he was recognized by him. 
The horse drew nearer and nearer to Mr. Burke, stopped, 
eyed him with a most pleading look of recognition, 
which said, as plainly as words could have said, ' I have 
lost him too ; ' and then the poor dumb beast deliberately 
laid his head on Mr. Burke's bosom. Struck by the 
singularity of the occurrence, moved by the recollec- 
tions of his son, — whom he had never ceased to mourn 
with a grief that would not be comforted, — overwhelmed 
by the tenderness of the animal, expressed in the mute 
eloquence of holy Nature's universal language, the illus- 
trious statesman for a moment lost his self-possession, 
and, clasping his arms around the neck of his son's 



AGEICULTUKE AND THE HOESE. 425 

favorite animal, lifted up that voice which had filled the 
arches of Westminster Hall with the noblest strains that 
ever echoed within them, and wept aloud. 

" This was seen and was heard by the passers-by ; and 
the enemies of Burke, unappeased by his advancing 
years, by his failing health, by his domestic sorrow, 
made it the ground of a charge of insanity. ' Burke 
has gone mad.' But, sir, so help me Heaven, if I were 
called upon to designate the event or the period in 
Burke's life that would best sustain a charge of insani- 
ty, it would not be when, in a gush of the holiest and 
purest feeling that ever stirred the human heart, he 
wept aloud on the neck of his dead son's favorite horse ; 
but it would rather be when, at the meridian of his 
fame, when the orb of his imperial genius rode highest 
in the heavens, amidst the scoffs of cringing courtiers, 
and the sneers of trading patriots, he abased his glorious 
powers to the scramblings and squabblings of the day, 
and, 

' Born for the universe, narrowed his mind. 
And to party gave up what was meant for mankind.' " 

Mr. Chairman, I have done. If I have occupied 
more time than I ought, I beg you to charge it to the 
subject, and not to myself I am anxious that this 
society should do its duty in every department assigned 
it; and I especially desire that it should correct, by 
a wise and judicious devotion to all the interests of agri- 
culture, any error into which we may have fallen, and 
raise the entke industry to a high and dignified plane. 



426 AGEICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 

I thank you for your courtesy in listening to me, and 
shall heartily unite with you in any service to which 
we may be called for the benefit of that occupation to 
whose advancement this assembly is devoted. 

Mr. Osgood sat down. The story of Burke had 
moved that little audience as if the experience had 
been to each a personal sorrow. The horse had secured 
his position in the minds and hearts of all present ; and 
his status in the New-England Agricultural Society was 
fixed forever. 

Mr. Jones, who had listened through the extended 
discourse, "amazed," as he was kind enough to say, "at 
the unexpected outburst of wisdom, wit, and pathos," 
which, during those long, late hours of night, had 
charmed himself and his friends, rose, extended his 
hand to Mr. Osgood, and cordially thanked him for all 
that he had said. 

Gen. Greene moved a vote of thanks for the address ; 
adding, " that a copy be requested for publication." 
The vote was passed unanimously. 

By this time "his taper faded," and the early "morn- 
ing gales " fanned the brow of Mr. Osgood as he 
strolled to his room in the American House, wondering 
how he had made that speech, and how in the world 
he was ever to furnish a copy for publication. 

The next day found him at home on his farm, wan- 
dering moodily up and down his ample barns, survey- 
ing his long rows of well-fed cattle, and turning now 



AGRICULTUKE AND THE HORSE. 427 

and then a somewhat uneasy eye to his horses, who 
had, until this hour, been a source of unalloyed peace 
and joy to him. In every limb of theirs he saw that 
speech, a copy of which he was " to furnish for publi- 
cation." 

The occasion was too much for him. He could get 
no peace, until, as he sat musing before the fire on that 
long winter evening, listening to his own thoughts and 
to the busy clicking of Mrs. Osgood's knitting-needles, 
he said, — 

" Jerusha, I have made a speech." 

"Made a what?" said Jerusha. 

"Made a speech, my dear," said he, — "all about 
horses ; and I have agreed to furnish a copy of it to 
the New-England Agricultural Society for publication." 

"Are you a-going to write it out, John?" said Je- 
rusha. 

"No," said he: "I can't do that. The chairman is 
going to write it out for me. He is a great writer, 
they say." 

"Now, John," said Jerusha, looking a great honest 
look at him over her spectacles, "that will never do. 
If the chairman writes out that speech in his own lan- 
guage, say so like a man, either at the beginning, or 
middle, or end of the book." 

John's countenance fell. But there it was recorded, 
and there it may be found, — "Revised and written out 
by the Chairman ; " and Jerusha is content. 



MY OBLIGATIONS. 

To all the good horses that I have ever owned, who 
by their fidelity have won my regard, who by their 
devotion have secured a place in my affections, who 
have obtained for their race my best efforts and desires, 
and whose names fill my heart with the tenderest of 
memories, I desire to express my obligations for the 
lesson which I have recorded here. 

GEO B. LORING. 



PEDI6EEES OP NOTED HOESES. 



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HOW TO LAY OUT A MILE TRACK. 

Select a level field of 42 acres : draw through the centre 
of it a straight line of 440 yards (a quarter of a mile). On 
each side of this line, and at an exact distance of 140 yards 
from it, draw parallel lines of equal length, so that the space 
between the two outer lines will be 280 yards. This being 
done, drive a stake at each end of the centre line ; fasten a 
cord thereto ; extend the cord at right angles for 140 yards 
until it touches the end of the outer line, and then describe 
with the extreme end of the cord an outer curve or semi- 
circle between the ends of the two outer lines. You will 
then have the shape you want ; the continuous outer line 
describing it being exactly a mile (1,760 yards) in length, 
divided into four sections of a quarter-mile (440 yards) each, 
and enclosing 42 acres of ground. From this outer line, or 
track, set the fence of the course three feet back on the 
straight sides and curves. In this way an exact mile (as 
near as may be) is preserved for the actual foot-track of all 
the horses. In brief, then, mark out for your course a paral- 
lelogram of 440 yards long, and 280 yards wide, with curves 
thrown out at the ends, of equal length with the sides, and 
3'ou have the course you want. The first distance-post is 
placed 60 yards from the judges' stand ; the second at 240 
yards ; and the start is 60 yards before entering the turn. 
The track should be graded round the turns like the track 
of a railroad or circus, the outer portion highest, so that a 
horse can extend himself at full speed as well around the 
turns as on the straight sides. 



GALLEEY OF CELEBRATED EOESES/ 



GALLERY OF CELEBRATED HORSES. 

In respect to the 'horses whose description aud pedi- 
grees are herein presented to the public, I would say 
that they were selected by the 'author, independent of 
the publishers, and solely because of their merits. 
While I do not propose to say that no horses which do 
not appear in this book are not worthy of patronage, — 
for there are many of great excellence in the stud not 
included in this list, — my idea was to bring together a 
list of truly great stock-horses, according to my under- 
standing of what constitutes greatness in horses kept 
for breeding-purposes, and without the fear or favor 
of any, and as devoid of prejudice as the mind of 
man may be. Unknown to the publishers of this work 
and the owners of the horses, certain were selected 
as worthy in every respect of public patronage ; in 
short, such horses as I would confidently breed from 
myself 

Regarding them in this light, I cordially recommend 
them to the breeding public. I wish it to be under- 
stood that the words with which they are advertised are 
those of their respective owners, not mine. 

THE AUTHOR. 

459 



460 THE PERFECT HORSE. 



TAGGART'S ABDALLAH. 
Foaled 1859. Bred and owned by D. M. Taggart, Goffs- 
town, N.H. 

PEDIGREE IN EULL. 

Taggart's Abdallah. — Sire, Farmer's Beauty ; dam, 
Lady Mack. 

Farmer's Beauty. — Ch. h. ; foaled 1842 ; got by Gifford 
Morgan, son of Woodbury Morgan ; dam, a mare that was 
called a Messenger at that day. Her sire was spoken of as 
Grey Messenger, and sometimes Freeman's Messenger, which 
was a son of Ogden's Messenger. Bred by Dr. Thatcher, 
"Wells River, Vt. ; purchased 1344 by D. M. Taggart, Goffs- 
town, N.H. 

Lady Mack. — Ch. m. ; foaled about 1843 ; got by the fa- 
mous Abdallah ; dam by imp. Trustee, 2601 ; g. d. not traced, 
but known to be from racing-stock. Bred by Dr. Conover, 
Freehold, N.J. ; sold to J. Doty, and by him to W. McRob- 
erts, New York ; then to Jos. L. Noyes, Lowell, Mass. ; then 
to E. T. Northend, Newbury ; then to J. E. Remick, New- 
buryport, Mass. Repurchased by J. L. Noyes, and bred to 
Thurston's Young Black Hawk ; sold to Dr. Dean Robinson 
of West Newbury ; and, after raising two colts, sold to J. O. 
Loring, N. Andover, Mass.: from Mr. Loring, in 1854, she 
went to S. W. Hopkinson, Bradford, Mass. ; and in 1856 to 
D. M. Taggart, Goffstown, N.H. 

Gifford Morgan. — Foaled 1824 ; got by Woodbury 
Morgan, son of the original Justin Morgan ; dam by Henry 
Dundas ; g, d. said to be by True Briton ; g. g. d. by imp. 
Wildair. Bred by Ziba Gifford, Tunbridge, Vt. Died at 
Walpole, N.H., 1850. This was one of the best of his 
family. 



GALLERY OP CELEBRATED HORSES. 461 

Abdallah. — B. h. ; foaled 1825 ; got by Mambrino, 1449 
(son of imp. Messenger) ; dam, Amazonia, by a son of imp. 
Messenger, 1562. Bred by John Tredwell, Esq., near Ja- 
maica, L. I. Different authorities do not agree on this 
horse's age ; some making him as early as 1828, others as late 
as 1826. He was owned by John W. Hunt, Lexington, Ky., 
1840, and brought back to Long Island the next year. Died 
1852 at Gravesend, L.I. 

DESCRIPTION". 

Taggart's Abdallah stands fifteen hands three inches high ; 
weighs 1,050 pounds ; clean, rangy, thorough-bred look, bright 
dappled bay color, coat like satin, a fine disposition. At the 
New-England Fair at Manchester, 1870, in soft condition, 
trotted his mile in 2.28, and repeated a half in 1.12^. He 
has shown his trotting-qualities in several public purses. At 
Saugus, Mass., Providence, R.I., Hillsborough County, for a 
purse for all horses, he, in every instance, distanced his com- 
petitors. He is without speck or blemish, and a model of 
perfection ; and, more, he is the sire of the best trotting- 
family in New England. 

For further information, address D. M. Taggart, Goffs- 
town, N.H. (See portrait, p. 64.) 



462 THE PERFECT HOUSE. 

LIVE OAK. 
The property of W. H. H. Murray, Guilford, Conn. Live 
Oak is in color a rich mahogany bay with black points. He 
stands a little short of fifteen hands and a half in height, 
weighs 1,100 pounds, and is of very spirited and noble appear- 
ance. His muscular development is most extraordinary ; so 
much so as to distinguish him among horses noted in this 
respect. He has never been trained or driven for speed, 
but moves with the squarest trotting-action. In ability to 
transmit his likeness, and way of going to his offspring, he 
resembles his Morgan ancestors. He was bred in Danville, 
Vt. ; and is now ten years of age, just past. He is regarded 
by his owner as every way worthy of public patronage. 

PEDIGREE. 

Live Oak was sired by Morrill ; he by the Jennison horse ; 
he by One Eye ; he by Bulrush Morgan ; he by Justin Mor- 
gan, founder of the Morgan family. The dam of One Eye, 
the great-grandsire of Live Oak, was sired by the Farrington 
horse ; he by the Vance horse ; he by Messenger. The dam 
of the Vance horse was Garland : and she was sired by Du- 
roc ; he by imported Diomed. Garland's dam was Miller's 
Damsel, sired by Hambletonian ; he by imported Messenger. 
Young Miller's Damsel's dam was Miller's Damsel, sired by 
imported Messenger, out of imported PotSos mare. 

It will be observed that Live Oak, on his sire's side, runs 
back through three strains to imported Diomed, and also 
three strains to imported Messenger. 

The dam of Live Oak was sired by the Judivine horse ; 
he by Vermont Champion ; he by Vermont Morgan Cham- 
pion ; he by Sherman ; he by old Justin Morgan. (See por- 
trait, p. 32.) 



GALLERY OF CELEBEATED HOUSES. 463 



DANIEL LAMBERT. 

The celebrated trotting-stallion Daniel Lambert is kept at 
the Cream-hill Breeding Farms, Shoreham, Vt. 

DESCRIPTION. 

Daniel Lambert was foaled in 1858. His color is chest- 
nut, with one white hind-foot, and mane and tail of lighter 
hue, and of extraordinary fineness and beauty. He is very 
fine drawn in his limbs, neck, and head. He is called, by 
those competent to judge, one of the most beautiful horses 
in America. In trotting-action he is simply perfect. His 
record as a three-year-old was 2.38. As a stock-horse he is 
having extraordinary success. He transmits his beauty and 
speed to his colts. If any doubt this statement, we invite 
them to come and look at his stock. 

PEDIGREE. 

Sire, Ethan Allen, by Vermont Black Hawk, by Sherman 
Morgan, by Justin Morgan. 

Dam, Fanny Cook, by Old Abdallah, by Old Mambrino, 
by imported Messenger. Fanny Cook's dam was by Old Amer- 
ican Star, by Old Eclipse. Fanny Cook's grand-dam was by 
Red Bird, by Old Red Bird, by Old Eclipse. 

For further information, address A. C. Harris, Shoreham, 
Vt. (See portrait, p. 192.) 



464 THE PERFECT HOESE. 



MORGAN ABDALLAH. 

Owned by W. H. H. Murray, and kept at his farm, Guil- 
ford, Conn. ; where samples of his stock can be seen. 

DESCRIPTION". 

Morgan Abdallah is of rich bay color, beautifully dap- 
pled with jet-black points. At four years of age he is fifteen 
hands and one inch in height, and weighs a thousand pounds. 
His disposition is perfect. From the da}'- he was foaled he 
has been remarkable for his beauty. His admirers pronounce 
him the handsomest colt they have ever seen. He is a 
natural trotter. When twenty-six months old he trotted 
a quarter of a mile in forty -five seconds, and repeated it in 
forty-three without a break. He had never been shod, and 
had been harnessed only twenty times. Possessing a large 
share of Morgan blood, he transmits his qualities to his proge- 
ny. We recommend him with confidence to the public. 

PEDIGREE. 

Sired by Taggart's Abdallah ; he by Farmer's Beauty ; he 
by Gifford Morgan ; he by Woodbury ; he by Justin Morgan. 
Morgan Abdallah's dam was sired by Morgan Tiger ; he by 
Cock of the Rock ; he by Sherman ; he by Justin Morgan. 
His grand-dam on the sire's side was sired by Old Abdallah : 
his grand-dam on the dam's side was sired by imported 
Bellfounder. 

For further information, address head groom, Alexander 
Good, Guilford, Conn. (See portrait, p. 352.) 



GALLEEY OF CELEBRATED HOESES. 465 

HARVARD. 
Owned by Peter B. Bradley, Boston, Mass. 

DESCRIPTION. 

Harvard is four years of age, and is fifteen and a half 
hands in height. His weight is one thousand pounds ; and he 
is of beautiful.dark chestnut color, with white blaze in the face. 
He is a horse of great muscular development, and of faultless 
action when in motion. He is a natural trotter ; was able, 
when a three-year-old, to trot a mile in three minutes without 
professional driving or training. As a roadster and gentle- 
man's driving-horse he cannot be excelled. He is of docile 
but spirited disposition ; which, with his trotting-action, he 
transmits to his colts. We invite attention to his 

PEDIGREE. 

Harvard was sired by Quinipiac ; he by Green's Hambleto- 
nian. Green's Hambletonian was full brother to the cele- 
brated horse Volunteer. His first dam was sired by the noted 
horse Leviathan, which, although kept for the stud, has a 
record of 2.26 to saddle, and of 2.30, 2.30|-, 2.31, in three 
heats to wagon. Second dam was a fast-trotting Messenger 
mare. Leviathan was sired by Flying Cloud ; he by Hill's 
Black Hawk. Leviathan's dam was sired by imported Levi- 
athan. 

For further information, address Peter B. Bradley, 24 
Broad Street, Boston, Mass. (See portrait, p. 256.) 

30 



466 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

RYSDYK. 
Owned by C. M. Pond, Hartford, Conn. 

DESCRIPTION. 

Rysdyk is a beautiful bay with black points. Height, 
fifteen, two and a half; and weighs 1,050 pounds. In 
structure he is the picture of great muscular power ; 
while in appearance he has almost the fineness of a thor- 
ough-bred. In temperament and disposition he is faultless ; 
full of fire and gentleness. Representing as he does the union 
between the best trotting-family and best running-family of the 
country, he responds fully to his high breeding. Through his 
dam he is connected with the Diomed blood, which, mingled 
with the Messenger blood, has produced the highest results 
American breeding has achieved. We invite special attention 
to the pedigree table. 

PEDIGREE. 

Sire, Rysdyk's Hambletonian, by Abdallah. First dam, 
Charles Kent mare, by imported Bellfounder ; second dam, 
One Eye, by Bishop's Hambletonian ; third dam, Silvertail, by 
imported Messenger. 

Abdallah, by Mambrino ; he by Messenger. Dam, Amazo- 
nia, by Messenger. 

Bishop's Hambletonian, by Messenger. First dam, Pheas- 
ant, by imported Shark ; second clam, by imported Medley. 
Dam of Rysdyk, by the famous Lexington. 

[I regard this horse as full proof of my views touching the 
crossing Hambletonian with a thorough-bred. In my opinion, 
lie is one of the very best colts the old horse ever sired. — 
Author.^ 



GALLERY OF CELEBRATED HORSES. 46T 

Second dam, Magdalen, by Medoc ; third dam, Keph's dam, 
by Sumpter; fourth dam, by Lewis's Eclipse; fifth dam, 
Maria, by Craig's Alfred ; sixth dam, by Tay Ice's Bellair ; 
seventh dam, by imported Medley. 

Lexington, by Boston. Dam, Alice Carneal, by imported 
Sarpedon ; second dam, Rowena, by Sumpter ; third dam, 
Lady Grey, by Robin Grey ; fourth dam, Maria, by Melzar. 

Medoc, sire of Magdalen, by American Eclipse. Dam, 
Young Maid of the Oaks, by imported Expedition ; second 
dam, ]Maid of the Oaks, by imported Expedition ; third dam, 
Annette, by imported Shark. 

American Eclipse, sire of Medoc, by Duroc, son of im- 
ported Diomed. Dam, jNIiller's Damsel, by imported Messen- 
ger. 

Sumpter, by Sir Archy, son of imported Diomed. Dam, 
Robin mare, by imported Robin Redbreast. 

Lewis's Eclipse, bred by Horatio Turpin, Virginia, by im- 
ported Diomed. Dam, by Harris's Eclipse ; second dam, by 
imported Granby ; third dam, by imported Janus ; fourth 
dam, Poll Flaxen, by imported Jolly Roger ; fifth dam, im- 
ported Mary Grey, by Roundhead. 

Craig's Alfred, by imported Medley. Dam, by Symme's 
Wildair ; second dam, by Sloe ; third dam, by imported 
Valiant. 

Tayloe's Bellair, by imported Medley. Dam, Selima, by 
Yorick ; second dam. Black Selima, by imported Fearnaught ; 
third dam, imported Selima, by the Godolphin Arabian. 

For further information, address C. M. Pond, Hartford, 
Conn. (See portrait, p. 160.) 



468 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

FEARNAUGHT, JUN. 
Owned by David Nevins, Jan., Framingham, Mass. 

DESCRIPTION. 

Fearnanglit, jun., is of beautiful chestnut color, with one 
white foot behind, and small stripe in the forehead. He is 
fifteen and a half hands in height, and weighs 1,050 pounds. 
He has never been trained for the turf since he "svns a colt, 
when he showed speed of the very first order ; but the public 
know that his ability as a trotter to go very fast, and stay, has 
never been doubted. Fearnaught has left no other son so 
noted, or apparently so likely to perpetuate the family name 
in honor. In disposition, Fearnaught, jun., is remarkably 
amiable ; and his success in the stud has been worthy of him- 
self and his ancestors. His colts closely resemble him in 
color, action, and courage. Indeed, as a stock-horse, his 
fame is already secured. 

PEDIGREE. 

Fearnaught, jun., was sired by Fearnaught ; he by Young 
Morrill ; he by Old Morrill ; he by the Jennison horse ; he 
by One Eye ; he by Bulrush ; he by Justin Morgan. (For 
further pedigree in the male line, see Tables V. and XXIX.) 

Dam of Fearnaught, jun., is said to be by Old Abdallah. 
Of this, evidence by affidavit is lacking ; but, from all we can 
ascertain, it is entirely worthy of credence. 

For further information, address David Nevins, jun., Fra- 
mingham, Mass. (See portrait, p. 22-i.) 



GALLERY OF CELEBRATED HORSES. 469 

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
Owned by William B. Smith, of Hartford, Conn. 

DESCRIPTIOK. 

Thomas Jefferson is jet-black in color, with beautiful silky 
coat, and a white star in his forehead. He is fifteen hands 
and a quarter in height, and weighs nine hundred and fifty 
pounds. He is a naturally-gaited trotter, and one of the fast- 
est in the country. Of his speed and staying qualities the 
public can judge by the fact that he trotted a third heat at 
Prospect Park in June, also a third heat at Hampden Park 
in August, 1871, with ease, in 2.25|-. 

As a stock-horse, Jefferson is a success ; the majority of 
his colts being able to beat three minutes at four years old, 
and many of them at three years old : besides, they possess this 
crowning capacity, — that of training on like their sire, with- 
out flinching. For temper, soundness, speed, and stoutness, 
they cannot be surpassed. His capacity to produce fast and 
famous colts from common mares has been fully established ; 
and I will endeavor to convince any and all of this truth who 
will take the trouble to call on me. 

PEDIGREE. 

Toronto Chief, the sire of Jefferson, is brown, sixteen hands, 
sound and handsome ; a natural trotter, with a record to 
saddle of 2.24|-. He is the first horse that ever trotted a half- 
mile in 1.08|- in a public race. 



470 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

Gypsy Queen, the dam of Jefferson, is black, fifteen hands 
and a quarter ; handsome, with the exception of light tail ; 
being famous at the West as a perfect " stayer," and a winner 
at three, five, and ten miles. In her last teii-mile race she 
was beaten less than a length by Capt. McGowan, in 28.11. 
She was purchased by Thomas J. Vail, at Louisville, Ky., of 
Bidwell, a Western trainer and driver, who represented that 
Gypsy was sired by Wagner, and her dam by Glencoe. She 
was perfectly sound when put to breeding. 

For further information, address William B. Smith, Hart- 
ford, Conn. (See portrait, p. 96.) 

t 

[As in the case of Rysdyk, because both are owned in my 
native State, and therefore of peculiar interest to me, as to 
all Connecticut breeders, I have felt at liberty to call their 
special attention to this horse. He is, beyond doubt, the fast- 
est stock-horse ever owned in the State, and one of the fastest 
in the country. — Author.'] 



GALLERY OF CELEBRATED HOUSES. 471 

FEARNAUGHT. 
Lately owned by Col. H. S. Russell, Home Farm, Milton, Mass. 

(Pedigkee. — See Table XXIV.) 

DESCRIPTION". 

The engraving on page 8 is an admirable likeness of the 
celebrated stallion Fearnaught, whose recent death at Milton 
must be a disappointment to all who are interested in improv- 
ing the stock of New England, as well as to those wdio sym- 
pathize specially with the efforts at Home Farm to encourage 
the breeding of fine horses in this part of the country. 

Fearnaught's public record was 2.23| at Buffalo in 1868, 
when he beat some of the horses now most prominent on the 
trotting-turf ; and, without considering his speed, we may well 
mourn the loss of a stock-horse which had the power of giv- 
ing to his progeny, in very great degree, the beautiful form, 
action, and speed, which placed him first in the list of the 
favorite horses of New England. 

His last victory was at the New-England Fair of 1872, 
when he received the first premiums and gold medal offered 
for the best stock-horse ; and, when the trustees barred him 
from competing this year, they little thought he could not be 
present to receive the praise of those who had grown to re- 
gard him as the common property and pride of New England. 

But, while lamenting the loss of this noble horse, it must be 
remembered that he has left a numerous family at his last 
home, some of whom will doubtless successfully fill his place: 
for, during several years, he has been bred to mares carefully 
selected from different parts of America and Europe, the 



472 THE PERFECT HORSE. 

mingling of whose blood with that of Fearnaught ought to 
give stock-horses equal if not superior to their sire ; and great 
care will be taken in selecting the one to stand at the head 
of the farm with which the name of this famous horse has 
been so closely associated. 



INDEX. 



INDEX. 



B. 

PAGE. 

Blood, the 22 

Bones, the 28 

Bones, size vs. strength of 28, 29 

Bones, canon 38, 39 

Bones, the size of 39 

Back, the 48 

Back, length of 48 

Backs, weak . . . . . . .... . . . 48, 49 

Back; how strengthened 51, 52 

Breeding, principles of 72 

Breeding, non-success of 73, 74 

Breeders, ignorance of . . . . . . . . . 74, 75 

Breeding, causes of failure in 77 

Breeding remunerative 78 

Breeding, how to succeed in 80 

Breeding, law of 133 

Bitting a colt 163 

Bitting-machines 164 

Balking 177 

Breaking . 209 

c. 

Color 16 

Chest, the J 20 

Chest ; how related to speed 26,27 

475 



476 



INDEX. 



Curb 

Colt, the ; his relation to the family 
Colt, the, how to halter-bi'eak 
Colt, the, eiliicatiou of . 
Colt, the, how taught to draw 
Colt, the, how taught to back 
Colt, the, how to bit . 
Colt, the, true method of educating 
Colts, vicious .... 



PAGE. 

61, 62 
154, 155 
155 
159 
IGl 
1G2 
168 
170 
171 



D. 



Dam, the, influence of . 

Dam, value of blood in the . 

Dam, value of a pedigree of the 

Dam, size of . 

Dam, temperament of . 

Dam ; how treated in foaling 

Driving a colt 

Driving, over 

Driving, how to hold the lines in 



139 
141 
142 
143 
145 
148 
201 
205 
206 



Eye, the 
Ear, the 
Elbow, the . 
Exercise-ground, value of 
Exercise-ground, use of 
Exercise, up-hill . 



15 
16 

44 
187 
188 
197 



F. 

Forehead, the 17 

Fore-leg . .......... 36, 37 

Fore-feet 42 

Feet, size of 42 

Foot, shape of .....••.• • 43 

FrosT 43 



INDEX. 



477 















PAGE. 


Foaling, treatment of mare before 84 


Foaling, the treatment of mare in 










85 


Foal, the ; how treated .... 










150 


Foal, the, diet of . 












151 


Foal, the, protection of. 












152 


Foot, the .... 












226 


Foot, the, popular ignorance of 












232 


Foot, the, easily understood . 












233 


Foot, the, sense of touch in . 












234 


Frog, paring of . . . 












240 


Frog, use of . 












241 


Foot, non-expansive 












243 


Foot, bars of 












244 


Flat foot, how to treat a 












257 


Fitting, hot and cold 












282 



Gexeratiox, theory of 



G. 



96 



H. 
Head, the 

Head, description of the 

Hock, the 

Horse, highly-organized 

I. 

IXBREEDIXG .... 

Inbreeding, effect of ... , 
Inbreeding, limitations and rule of 



10 
12 
60 

76 



134 
135 
137 



Jibbing, or running backward 



173 



KxEES, the 
Kicking 



45 
176 



478 



I^'DEX. 



Long backs . 
Lungs, use and value of 
Lungs; how developed . 
Lungs ; relation to speed 
Lines : how to be held . 



Morgan, Justin, as a stock-horse 
Muscles; how strengthenL'iI 
Muscles, back 
Morgan horses 
Morgan, Justin, pedigree of 
Morgans, beauty of the 
JNIorgans, docility of the 
Morgans, endurance of the 
JNIorgans, speed of the . 
Morgan, Justin, description of 
Morgan, Sherman, history of 
Morgan, Woodbury, history of 
Morgan, Bulrush, history of . 



M. 



PAGE. 

40, 50 
184 
186 
189 
218 



91 
193 
195 
292 
293 
296 
297 
298 
298 
305 
319 
325 
330 



N. 

Neck, the .... • 18 

Nails, the 278 

Nails; how driven 279 

P. 

Pasterns, the 40, 41 

Perfect horse, size of the 121 

Paring, evils of 258, 269 

Q. 

Quarters, hind ^2 

R. 

Rump, the ^^ 



INDEX. 



479 



SUOULDER, the 

Shoulder-lameness 

Shoulder, muscles of the 

Spavin, caustj of • 

Sire, the 

Stock-horses ; how judged 

Sire, intluenee of . 

Suillions, low-bred 

Stallions, vicious . 

Stallion, natural and artificial state 

Stallions; what ones to avoid 

Stallions, proper age of . 

Stallions, health of 

Speeding, how to drive in 

Shoers, ignorance of 

Sole, inner .... 

Sole, danger of paring . 

Shoeing, errors in . 

Slipping ; how prevented 

Shoe, crescent-shaped . 

Shoeing, instructions in 

Shoes, thin .... 

Shoes, error in construction of 

Shoe ; how constructed 

Shoe ; how fitted to the foot . 

Shoes, heavy .... 

Stable and stalls ; how made 



of 



PAGE. 

30 

34, 35 

35, 36 
63, 64 

89 
95 
102, 103 
105 
107 
108 
111 
114 
116 
212 
230 
234 
237 
248 
253 
253 
255 
263 
275 
277 
281 
287 
289 



T. 

Temperament, four kinds of 4 

Temperament, nervous 4 

Temperament, bilious 4, 5 

Temperament, sanguine 5, 6 

Temperament, lymphatic 6 

Temperament, importance of, in breeding 7 

The thigh 56 



480 



INDEX. 



Trotting action vs. vital force 
Trotting, open gait in . 
Tliorougli-breds, relation of, to breeding 
Tliorough-bred, definition of . 
Thorough-bred trotting-horse 
Tips 



PAGE. 

117 
118 
124 
125, 126 
129 
274 



W. 



Withers. 

Weight-pullers 

WJloa, use of. 

Whoa; how taught to a colt 

Work, slow . 



32, 33 
121 
180 
181 
199 



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purchase ornot. 

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O. F. KIMBALL. 



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